Return of the Runebound Professor

Moxie wrapped Noah’s hand tightly with a cloth as they flew, binding the seeping dagger wound as best as she could. Luckily, they were high up enough in the air to keep any sudden movements from flinging them into the ground.

They flew for an hour before they touched down on top of a large hill. This landing went a little better than the previous one, though Noah still managed to drive the sword deep into the ground. He gave Lee her clothes back and worked on tugging the blade out while Lee shifted back and changed.

“I figured we should probably talk normally before we get back to Dawnforge,” Noah said, finally yanking the sword free with a grunt. “Lee can’t exactly speak while she’s in bird form and it can be hard to hear you over the wind, Moxie.”

“I was going to suggest we do this as well,” Moxie said. “Lee, were either of the men that you saw the same as the one in the inn?”

“Yeah,” Lee replied, wiping some blood from the blade of her axe and examined the quills that Moxie had tied to it for a moment before looking up to them. “They didn’t put up much of a fight.”

“Through their no fault of ours,” Noah said. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure the cat killed them.”

“It really did look that way,” Moxie agreed. “It lured the monster to them, then sat there looking mildly annoyed until it killed them.”

“So it’s an ally?” Lee asked.

They both glanced at Lee.

“I’m not sure.” Noah chewed his lower lip, then shrugged. “Every time it’s shown up, it’s brought monsters with it. I’m a little hesitant to jump over to saying the cat’s on our side when it nearly got Moxie and I killed.”

“It seems more like a loose cannon that really likes luring monsters over to people,” Moxie grumbled. “Maybe it just doesn’t care which people.”

“How’s it luring monsters in the first place?” Noah asked. “Revin did the same thing, and you said that using powerful Runes could lure strong monsters, but how’s that work? I didn’t get a chance to ask in the heat of the moment.”

“Same way we smell tasty food,” Moxie replied. “If you let off a ton of Runic energy, it can drift farther out and monsters with sufficient strength can pick it up. The more energy you let out, the stronger the scent. It really never travels all that far, but we’re in an area with a lot of monsters underground and a bunch of holes connecting them to the surface. It’s not very likely that one of them would have sensed something, but I didn’t want to risk the possibility.”

“That makes sense, but that doesn’t explain how the cat is doing it. I take it that the powerful monsters wouldn’t care much about small amounts of Runic energy, right?”

“Probably not, no.”

“Then how is the cat attracting these things? Does that mean it’s got a Rune that’s at least as strong as Sunder or Natural Disaster releasing the full brunt of its force at once?”

“Maybe it’s just really convincing,” Lee offered.

Noah and Moxie both glanced at her.

“What?” Lee asked. “Every time I see the cat, I want to grab it. Maybe the monsters feel the same way.”

“Not going to dismiss that, just because of Occam’s Razor, but I think that might be reaching for straws,” Noah said.

“Occam’s Razor?” Moxie tilted her head to the side.

“Ah, it’s a principle that basically says that the simplest solution is often the correct one. I feel like it’s more realistic for the stupid cat to somehow just be interesting enough that the monsters follow after it than for the cat to be strolling around with the equivalent of a powerful Master Rune.”

Moxie nodded, but she didn’t look convinced. “We saw the cat when that sludge-vine monster attacked us, though. It looked a lot more sinister than it does right now. Didn’t strike me as something weak, and it clearly has some kind of Rune that lets it teleport around.”

“Good point,” Noah admitted. “I don’t know what else we can really conclude about the cat at the moment, though. Just don’t have enough information. I think we should probably focus more on the two guys that came after us. That didn’t seem like a robbery at all. They went right after Lee. What’s up with that?”

“I have no idea.” Moxie shook her head in bewilderment. “I mean, Lee noticed one of them watching us in the inn where we got our jobs, but we never interacted with them. I honestly thought they were after me, but that clearly wasn’t the case. They wanted Lee dead.”

“Why, though?” Noah’s brow furrowed in confusion. “They weren’t demon hunters. I wish one of them lived a bit longer, but they both got squished so damn fast. What could they have possibly gotten from killing Lee? They shouldn’t have even had any reason to know her.”

Lee rubbed her chin. “I wonder if it’s because of the snacks. They did smell a little similar.”

Noah paused mid-thought. His eyes flicked down to Lee. “Snacks?”

“Yeah. I got some snacks last night.”

“I don’t suppose you could clarify?” Noah asked carefully.

Lee shrugged. “Well, you were meditating and Moxie went off on her own, so I got bored. I went out into the city to see if I could find anything tasty, and I ran into a guy in a dark alleyway.”

Only Lee would open a story about getting food by what feels like it’s going to be an attempted mugging.

“And?” Noah waved for Lee to continue.

“Oh, he gave me snacks. That was it. I did meet another guy after the first one, though. He was nice. Forgot his name, though.”

“Did these people smell more like the first or the second guy?”

“First one.”

Lee appears to have had the luck to run into the only dude strolling around in dark alleyways handing out food for fun. Why would he be associated with a bunch of thugs that go out to murder people for no reason? Unless – wait.

“Lee, did he give you food?” Noah asked, his eyes narrow. “Or did you take it?”

“He gave it to me!”

“And what happened before he gave it to you?”

“Oh, I stabbed him. But he tried to stab me first, so it was fair game,” Lee replied casually. “We were all good after that. I got snacks as payment for the trouble and he left, so I don’t think he was mad.”

Noah and Moxie exchanged a glance. Lee was simultaneously one of the most astute and dense people that Noah had ever met.

Don’t insult her. Lee’s no person. She’s a demon.

Shut up, cretin. She’s a person to me.

Noah slammed Azel back into the recesses of his mind and locked his mental doors on the demon. He was pretty sure that he wasn’t actually doing anything to lock the demon away, but Azel didn’t push back.

“Okay. I think it sounds more like you mugged him,” Moxie said. “It feels like a deserved mugging, but generally people that give you food after you stab them are not your friend, nor are things all good between you.”

Lee’s eyes widened. “Seriously? He had a grudge? For a little stabbing? What an asshole. He did it first.”

“People can be very hypocritical.” Noah patted Lee on the shoulder. “So I suppose now we’ve got a motive. A gang of thugs probably got pissed off at you because you stabbed one of their folks.”

“That’s dumb. They attacked me first.”

“Nobody said they were good people,” Noah said. “It’s fine. Nothing for you to beat yourself up about. If anything, I think you should probably be a little more careful with who you accept food from. Generally, I’d avoid getting it from suspicious people in dark alleyways.”

“What should we do about this, then?” Moxie asked. “If it was a gang, then there are probably more members. I’d imagine they’ll figure out that two more of their members are dead.”

“We move first, of course,” Noah said, his eyes darkening. “If they sent people after us because Lee stabbed someone, then they’re not going to be happy that two more of their members are dead. Somehow, I don’t think pointing out that it was technically the cat that killed those assholes is going to make much of a difference in their eyes.”

“If anything, we’d be doing the city a favor,” Moxie agreed. “Scum. They go around attacking people, then get pissed off when someone returns the favor.”

“How does Dawnforge feel about vigilantes?” Noah asked.

Moxie waggled a hand in the air. “Let’s avoid getting caught. The guards aren’t going to care if a bunch of murderers get what’s coming to them. We should just make sure we’re actually killing the right people. It would be pretty bad if we got the wrong ones on accident.”

“Should be easy enough. They know what Lee looks like,” Noah said. “All we have to do is waltz up. If they recognize Lee and attack, we can fight back without any worry.”

“That sounds fun,” Lee said. “Can we sell all this stuff first, though? I don’t want the pokey things tied to my axe while I use it.”

Noah nodded. “Yeah. We’ll handle those idiots in the morning. I assume you can sniff them out?”

Lee’s eyes twinkled. “Who do you think I am?”

“Fair enough. Let’s get on it again, then. I want to see how much money we can get for all of this. One thing at a time. Step one: sell crap and turn in the job. Step two: kill thugs. Nice and straightforward.”

“I’m glad to see you took my advice to heart,” Moxie said with a wry smile.

“What can I say? You’re very convincing.”

Lee nodded in agreement, then paused. “What’s step three?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t figured that part out yet,” Noah replied. “Some stupid shit will probably end up happening and interrupting me, so planning that far ahead seems like a stupid idea. We’ll play it by ear after step two.”

Moxie sighed. “Well, two steps is better than none, I guess.”

“Hey! Two steps is a perfectly good length. That’s one more than I normally like to think about.” Noah tossed his flying sword to the ground.

Moxie arched an eyebrow at him as she stepped onto it. Lee handed Noah her axe, then morphed into a bird. Noah caught her clothes as they fell, stuffing them into his travel bag and making a small nest for Lee to sit on.

He stepped onto the sword behind Moxie, sending a pulse of magic into the blade. Then they were off once more, hurtling through the night toward Dawnforge.

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