My portion of the loot from the goblins was five silver. They hadn’t been carrying much of value. Arlo took their ears, as there was a good chance of a bounty or mission related to them, and we made our way down the road. We agreed to travel that way for an hour, and if we couldn’t find Balen then we would turn back. We were already a couple hours deep into the desert with no water. No sense in dying looking for him.

  I allocated three points to Endurance, bringing it to 10, then pulled up my new class skill as we made our way back down the road.

  Explosive Resonance. Bombastic Busker class skill. Consume mana to increase volume of performances, increasing potency and effects of songs. Volume increased proportionally with mana consumed.

  Interesting, something to do with my mana. I tested it out with Radiant Winds. I could feel another facet of the performance, a gauge of sorts, that I could pour mana into while playing. I sent eight of my available eighteen mana points into the song and it rose noticeably in volume.

  Everyone looked around in surprise as I stored the enhanced song in my Songcache, having completed it at 85%.

  “Did you just increase the volume on your acoustic lute?” Katarina asked, eyes darting from me to the lute. “It… is acoustic right?”

  “It’s a new skill I just got. I guess it acts as a mana-powered amplifier.”

  “That is badass,” her eyes widened. “You gotta learn more songs for that thing!”

  I laughed. “That’s the plan!”

  We came upon a pissed off Balen twenty minutes later. He had calmed the ox enough to stop it, and a bandage was wrapped around one of its legs. I felt a pang of guilt at that.

  “I’m sorry for hurting the ox,” I said.

  “Them gobs are a real menace. Heard of ’em wiping out caravans with no guards. It's why I hired adventurers, really. That and bandits. But you need to find a way to kill them things without hurting those what you’re protecting!”

  “Are they usually in such large groups? It seems like something should be done about them.” Arlo said.

  “Nah, that was strange, but I didn’t see much before the bard blew up my damn ox.”

  “He didn’t blow up your ox,” Katarina said. “He saved all of our asses. Him and Lesh. They were invisible. How the hell could we fight something we couldn’t see?”

  “That ain’t my business. My business is fish, and I know it well. It’s on you lot to know your business, just don't go hurtin’ my ox!”

  “That’s fair,” I said, glancing at Katarina in appreciation before looking back to Balen. “I am very sorry.”

  Balen nodded. “Alright, let’s water up and keep goin’. Still got a long ways to go.”

  I imbued an arrow for Tobias at 92% strength, empowering it with two points of mana. My mana had partially regenerated by then. I guessed I was getting back a point every five minutes or so. Katarina watched me imbue his arrow with hungry eyes, but didn’t say anything.

  “Chanter,” Tobias said as we resumed our walk. “Remember that story you told us about that fox you saved in the forest?”

  “Yeah, the kitsiho?”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s following us. I keep catching glimpses of something white flying around behind us. Here and there, and it isn’t always there, but…” he looked around, up at the sky behind us. “I’ve seen it a few times. Or I think I have. With us going a day into the desert I thought I should mention it to you.”

  “Ah, yeah, it might get thirsty, good point. Hmm.” I pulled up my inventory screen and scrolled through. I had several empty vials from health potions I had consumed. I pulled one out and looked at it. It… might work? If the fox was thirsty, it could figure it out. I hoped.

  I walked over to the water cart and filled the vial as we walked, stopping and placing it on the side of the road. I drew a circle around it in the sand before jogging to catch up with everyone.

  “What was that?” Hannah asked.

  “Oh, Tobias thinks he saw the kitsiho following us. I don’t want it to die of thirst or anything.”

  “I doubt a kitsiho would do something like that,” Elsetha called from the back of the cart. “I did some reading on them, fascinating creatures. A lot of lore and myths about them though, so it is difficult to discern fact from fancy.”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Oh, really?” I asked, “What did you read?”

  “One universal norm across all that I read was that they are smart. Like, people-smart, but the exact level of intelligence varies. Some stories have them speaking, tricking people into deals. The deals they were tricked into vary from providing regular food, to trading their souls.”

  She stopped speaking for a moment, drinking water before continuing. As always, she spoke with the kind of monotone lecture that would have put me to sleep back in school, reciting information as if reading it. “Another constant is their mischievous nature. They’re tricky. The accounts of their shapes vary — sometimes winged, other times not. Sometimes they have multiple tails, other times just one. There are a few scholarly articles attributing this to an ability to shape-shift. Others attribute it to observational bias.”

  “Wow,” I said. “You found a lot of information.”

  “They were once relatively common in the Eldwood near Verdantbrook, but something happened and most are gone. The reports described them as red, orange, or black though, not white. The information I found was usually a century or more old. There is a tiny section of the Archives dedicated to it. After finding that, it was only an hour or two of reading. Nothing, really.”

  “I still appreciate the information, thanks!” I said.

  “No thanks needed, it was an enjoyable endeavor.”

  I left a small vial of water every hour or so, hoping the kitsiho would be able to find other sources of water if it really was following me into the desert. I tried keeping an eye out for it, but never saw it.

  Tobias gestured back a few times when he spotted it, but I couldn’t make out anything.

  Balen did not complain about my practicing Cahl’s Tatsu after the goblin attack. Though I still failed just as often as I succeeded while walking, the song did provide us with a fleeting form of invisibility.

  I idly wondered what another traveler would think, seeing a group of travelers, a cart, and an ox all appear or vanish. We didn’t pass any other travelers, so my question went unanswered.

  The remainder of the day passed without event. I practiced Tatsu until my body ached, switched over to Radiant Winds to rejuvenate myself, then continued.

  The Fort loomed in the distance, a block of sandstone amidst a field of gently rising dunes. The Fort was smaller than Verdantbrook — much smaller, but bulkier. The fortifications around the structure reached three times higher than Verdantbrook’s walls. The gates were massive, iron bound sandstone contraptions that swiveled open from a massive bolt of iron affixed to the bottom and top when we approached.

  Three guards stepped out of the large door as it swiveled open. They stood over six feet tall. Their skin matched the sandstones of the fort with swirls of white and tan giving them distinct features. They wore plate armor and held large halberds vertically.

  One of them stepped forward. His armor held a few more adornments, three red stripes on one pauldron.

  “Hail, and welcome to Fort Ethers. What is your business?”

  Balen handled the conversation with the guardsman, who admitted us after a cursory glance into the cart and at each of us. I held out my hand in greeting. The guardsman shook my hand in greeting and I felt a familiar haptic buzz.

  New essence obtained! New Form Available: Elementalkin Tera.

  The fort consisted of winding streets and single-story buildings of sandstone. Two large, circular roads surrounded a large pit in the center of the fort. The wall that surrounded the fort was wide enough to be considered a building in and of itself. Patrols of tera elementalkin roamed the streets in pairs. Most of the people I saw were of the same race, with a small sprinkling of beastkin, dwarves, and elves.

  We passed through a road with three large shops. Abernathy and Elsetha had gotten out of the cart after entering the fort, and Abernathy gasped as he saw the sign hanging over the first door. It depicted a cog and wrench. The shop was titled Gindledorf’s Tinkerey. A large display window showed a variety of equipment that made no sense to me consisting of cogs, springs, and an assortment of metal plating.

  “This store looks awesome,” Abernathy said, peering through the glass. “I’ve got to come back by here later.”

  Elsetha saw the store next to it and squealed. The sign showed two books laying on their sides with a third open on top of them.

  “A book store! I never expected to see a book store in the fort! Yes, I want to come back here as well!”

  “We should have some time to do a bit of shopping and exploring, once we deliver the goods,” Arlo said. “And look, there is an inn right next to the book store! Convenient!”

  “Ay, but that inn’ll run ya three times the cost of the inn I’ll be staying. An’ it ain't included in the price o’ the job, so keep that in mind.” Balen said.

  We followed the road into a market. Balen met with another wood elf. The two shared a familial appearance. My assumptions were confirmed a moment later.

  “Yarth, these are the adventurers what guarded me here. Everyone, this is me brother, Yarth. He runs the shop out here. Earthies can’t get enough of our dried fish.”

  “Damnit, Balen, they don’t like being called ‘earthies,’ and you know it. Nice to meetch’all, thanks for keeping my dickhead brother safe.”

  “Wait,” Arlo said, “if your brother runs a shop here, why do you stay at an inn?”

  “Ain’t got room in the shop. I just got one small room in tha’ back, not enough room,” Yarth said.

  “Not that it’s any o’ your damn business,” Balen added.

  Arlo held his hands up and backed away with a grin.

  “Fair enough. Alright, we will head out. Going to do a little exploring of the fort and find an inn. Meet at the Northern Gate at dawn to set out?”

  “Aye,” Balen said. “First light. Not twenty minutes after first light, nor an hour. First light. Don’t be late this time, or I’ll be reporting it to the guild.”

  All eyes turned to me, and I blushed. “Understood! We’ll see you then,” I agreed.

  “I wonder if that tinker shop will have a watch or alarm of some kind?” I asked Abernathy as we walked away from the brothers, who had started unloading barrels of salted fish.