Who grumbled and grumped with a pout.
With ale in her hand,
She’d gruffly demand,
"Now what are ye yappin' about?"
- Goldie Honorhide
I was not in much of a state to be interested in anything. It may have been a health potion, but it did nothing for the pain.
“First aid kit,” I said, pointing to the other ice platform in the distance.
Makara looked, “Sure, I‘ll fetch that. Do you mind if I haul the bastard out of the water? I don’t want him eaten by sharks just yet.”
I started to shrug, and the pain spiked. “OK.”
The water stirred, and the Mer was lying beside me, still impaled by the spear and his one non-ruined eye open blankly. Makara dove into the water.
Makara was soon back with Yoboc’s pack.
“The kit should be in the side pocket,” I said.
“Got it. I don’t know a lot about … mammals,” Makara said, “What do you need?”
“There are bandages and cream. I don’t know much about Mer, either. I assume you are both the same sub-species?” They looked the same.
Makara spat, “We are both Shark Mer, but I am from Mako Stock, and he is from Blue Shark Stock. I take it you are a male? You have a cock, but no tits.” We were both only wearing belts.
“Yeah, I am a Beast-kin, Polarbear stock. You don’t have tits,” I looked down, but I didn’t see a cock. The blue shark dude had a cock, “but I see you are cockless. Are you female?”
“I am, thanks for asking. We Mer don’t feed our young like you mammals. Don’t need tits. They are weird things. I have never understood them. Just for your info, though, there are many different subspecies of Mer, and the presence or lack of a cock is not a reliable indication of gender.”
“I will keep that in mind,” I said. “You will have to break the ice on my shoulder before we can apply the cream.”
“You really don’t have an Ice affinity, do you? That is a powerful freezing skill. I would be interested in hearing about it.” She was quick on the uptake about my skills. I am not sure I liked her being that intelligent.
She chipped the ice off one shoulder and applied the cream and the bandage. I had her soak the bandage in water and then froze it for extra protection. We then did the other shoulder. I wouldn’t have the use of my shoulders back for a week or so.
As she helped with my shoulders, she asked about what had happened, and I described our run-in with the Mer.
“So that is where the Taniwha went. Do you know where it is now?” she asked.
I shook my head, “I can’t sense it around here,”
“I didn’t either, but that doesn’t mean it is not here. They are hard to spot when they are still, and it sounded like this one needed time to recover. It is probably not far.” That is not encouraging. “Nick and I had a trap for the blue bastard, but he lured the taniwha into it. Nick managed to set the taniwha onto him rather than me, but it cost him his life. The bastard stabbed Nick as he fled. I was hoping the taniwha had got him, but apparently not.”
“Yoboc got him good with his bow, and he already had a wound, which I assumed was from the taniwha,” I said.
“Nah. Nick got him bleeding to attract the taniwha. From what you described, it sounds like the bastard had some sort of self-heal skill. We have been chasing him for weeks, and I am sure he is out of potions. Blue bastard is not going to heal from this.” She kicked the still-embedded spear.
“The Taniwha could manipulate water.” I said.
“Yeah, but it was stronger than I am, or I could have saved Nick. Are your dwarves on the shore? That is some pretty interesting ore you have over there.”
“Yeah, Yoboc will be watching us with his Farsight.”
Makara stood up and waved to the shore, “I don’t have Farsight. It is not much use underwater.”
That was good to know. “I am fairly young. What senses do Mer normally get?”
She looked at me a bit suspiciously, then shrugged, “Depends on the Mer. Sharks usually start with Olfactory or Hearing Aid, and then once you have the attributes Darksight and Clearsight,” she started going through the pockets on the belts of the dead Mer. “He doesn’t have much left. Ah, here’s what I need.” She pulled out a token.
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“What is it?”
“His Mercenary Guild ID,” She pulled out a few other things, pulled out her spear, and kicked the body back into the sea.
“But I thought you were from the Mercenary Guild?” I asked, confused.
“Just because you are a member doesn’t mean you can’t have a contract put out on you. This Blue Bastard stole from the School of Dolphins and killed two when he fucking forgot they had Sonar. The reward is substantial, and that is on top of the other bounty.” Her face fell. “It wasn’t worth Nick’s life, though. Bastard.”
“You and Nick were together a long time?” I asked.
“He trained me.” She shook herself and said, “Technically, anything on a captured bounty now belongs to me. However, those two knives were firmly in your possession at the time, so you can keep them. They are enchanted, so they are worth a bit. They are worth keeping if you want some good knives.”
I looked at the nearest knife. “What’s it made out of?”
“I am pretty sure they are Iku-Turso tusks. Small ones. The adult tusks generally make swords.”
“I have never heard of it,” I said.
Makara shrugged, “Sea monster. Looks like a mutated walrus.”
I need to improve my monster lore a lot. The knives were both the same blade length of around 20cm. One had a single cutting edge that was serrated. The other had a double straight edge. I could see runes marking the side of the blade. “What are the enchantments?” I asked.
Makara picked up the serrated-edged knife and examined it. “Oh, that is interesting. If I had known that, I might have kept them. The bone has been alchemically treated as well as enchanted.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Mer like bone weapons because they are easier to enchant and don’t sink as fast as metal ones, but bones are not as durable as metal. Most Mer can do basic enchantments because we are constantly breaking weapons. Alchemy is generally a land-based skill, and only a few amphibious Mer practice it. I have seen this shade before, and it greatly increases the knife's durability. It changes these from knives expected to last a year or two into heirlooms. I think I know where he stole them from.”
Makara looked increasingly like she wanted to own them and was regretting saying they were mine. I was in no position to stop her if she decided to take them.
“They sound expensive,” I said. “What are the enchantments?”
She looked at the one she was holding. “Sharpness. Oh, that is a complicated Buoyancy enchantment. You don’t see that very often; usually, it is just a weight reduction of a fixed size, matching the object, but this balances the density of the object with the density of the water.” She saw my blank look, “If you drop it in water, it won’t float or sink.”
I nodded, “Is that all?”
“That is a complicated enchantment, so it takes most of the spiritual energy. This also has a Bleeding enchantment to increase the bleeding,” she rolled her eyes, “Obviously. It is easier to track wounded prey in the water and saps their strength.” She was holding the serrated knife. She picked up the straight double-bladed knife, “This also has the first two enchantments, but instead of Bleeding, it has an extra Durability enchantment on top of the alchemical treatment.” She looked at the knife in wonder, “This is as indestructible a knife as you can get.”
“I am guessing there will be a substantial reward for these knives, as you indicated they were stolen,” I said.
Makara’s face fell a bit, “I guess so.”
“It's not something we need to deal with now,” I said, “but I see no reason not to use these knives in the meantime. Do you want to use one for now, and I will use the other? I should probably have the more durable one, as I am sure I have the lower skill.”
That perked her up and delayed a confrontation. She added the serrated knife to her belts, and I did the same to the straight-edged knife.
“So you were out here collecting your gear?” Makara asked. “Do you have it all?”
“The important stuff,” I said. “My swimming days are over for a while. I might need your help to get back to shore if you don’t mind.”
“Yeah, I can see that. Is your gear all on the other ice platform?” I nodded. “That is easy enough to push; we will need to swim over there, though,” she looked me up and down, “You are no lightweight.”
In the end, I just floated on my back and kicked my feet, and Makara gave me a boost when she got bored.
“That is some pretty unique ore you have there,” she said when we arrived. “And is that one lightsteel?” I nodded. “Lightsteel is better than bone for Mer weapons, but it is so scarce!”
I just nodded and said nothing. Makara towed me and the ice shelf of gear back to shore. She was muttering complaints the whole time.
As we neared the rocky beach, I saw Goldie and Felix waiting for us. I am sure Yoboc is hidden somewhere with an arrow notched.
Felix came up to me and greeted me, “Goldie, this is Makara. She killed the Mer, and if she hadn't intervened, I would be dead.”
“I told you it was too risky,” she replied grumpily. She looked suspiciously at Makara, “We aren’t exactly trusting of Mer at the moment, if you get my meaning.” She had a hand on her axe.
Makara smiled, showing a mouthful of very sharp teeth, “The typical grumpy dwarf. I always thought that was exaggerated in the plays, but it appears not.”
“Thanks for bringing the idiot back,” Goldie said. “I guess you will be on your way now.”
Makara grinned wider, “Well, Ivan and I haven’t concluded our business yet, so I guess I will hang around for a bit.”
Goldie looked at me, “What is this business she’s yapping about?”
“She is interested in buying some of the lightsteel ore from us and coming to a deal over the knives the Mer had on him, but she hasn’t got anything to trade till we get to a Mercenary Guild office, and she hands in the bounty she has,” I replied.
“You should have just told her it wasn’t for sale and to piss off,”
“She did save my life and got me back here, which would have been difficult for me,” I said.
“So she is extorting you?” Goldie asked.
“It is a business offer,” Makara said.
“But you admitted you are broke and can’t afford it,” Goldie argued.
There seems to be a lot more bad blood between dwarves and Mer than I had ever considered. Dwarf and Elves not getting along is famous, but Mer as well? Maybe the Dwarves are the problem?
“You are heading to Worlds End,” Makara said, “There is a Mercenary Guild office there that will pay me out.”
Goldie gave me an angry look. What did I do?