Chapter 494: Three-Eye Season

Leaving with the caravan was quite anticlimactic after the hurried preparations. Milo had the choice of sitting in a corner of a small cart filled with bales of goods, or walking. He chose to walk. The pace of the lizards was far slower than his slowest walk; he forced himself to learn a new habit and keep pace with the cart he was walking near.

The ragtag caravan of merchants and people on the move strung out along the road beyond the gate of the Myconian city, heading for the nearest part of the Deep Roads.

It had been a hectic day for the Caravan Masters. The two mantis in charge were flabbergasted to find that many merchants had signed up for the next trip to Bloth, but they only found out when they and their wagons arrived. They were used to signing up with Cazact, and since he had been seen around the city, they did so. He brought the contracts to Veem and Notveem and passed along all the fees he had collected.

"The roads are becoming more dangerous, and a large caravan offers more safety. More wagons are good, as long as they bring protection. I advise making sure you have enough guards. There is a group of Black Dwarf mercenaries who will fight as guards when the caravan is attacked if you refund their fees and agree that they get to keep anything that comes from the monsters they slay. A bargain in my mind, but that is up to you. There is also a Cheese Trader from Gouda Hollow that arrived with the remains of a small caravan yesterday. They ran into hard times on the roads, attacked by bandits twice, which they beat off easily, and finally a Greater Basilisk with a taste for drudge lizard. They escaped but lost two wagons and Caravan Master Cedric, who held off the beast long enough for the other wagons to get away. They say he was still swinging his sword with both legs and one arm petrified. An inspiration to us all. The remaining three wagons are groups heading to Bloth, looking for work and new things to eat. Finally, Assistant Caravan Master Creebtha has been promoted to full Master and is on her first journey to Bloth after her teacher, Master Beetra's untimely death two years ago. She inquired about the two of you and very politely asked for permission for her four wagons to join your caravan. All fees will be paid over to you, of course, and she is providing her own guards. I think having her with you will be a good experience for the two of you."

Veem and Notveem looked at each other. Creebtha of the delicate antennae and graceful foreclaws was known to them. Veem cleared his throat, "She asked about us? About me?"

Cazact nodded slowly, "She did. Which means she is thinking of you."

Veem preened, "She remembers me! This is excellent news."

Notveem looked at his idiot brother with disgust, "Master Cazact, what was the cause of death in the case of esteemed Master Beetra?"

"The usual story. A lonely older mantis becomes enamored with a young female and becomes too close to her. He is now a father to a splendid clutch of twenty-two young mantis that Creebtha has raised for the last two years. They just began hunting their own prey and have been moved to their first trainer to be civilized. Now, freed from the bondage of motherhood, she wants to get back on the open road and lead a caravan."

Veem's eyes were unfocused. "And she has chosen my caravan. She wishes to learn from me and partake of my wisdom."

Notveem smacked his brother in the head, twice for good measure. "She wishes to seduce you, kill you, and take over the caravan."

Veem was unconvinced. "She does? Or you are jealous!"

Cazact looked Veem in the eyes, making sure he had his attention. "She plans exactly that. With the two of you out of the way, she will have more young to raise, and have the beginnings of a successful caravan business. Be wary of her, but you must navigate your path on this. Far be it from me to get involved with the complex mating rituals of another race."

Notveem sighed, "And yet you allowed her to join our caravan?"

"She would have tried to join in any case, and I was able to negotiate a better contract for you. This way, you are warned of her ahead of time and can get your heads on straight so you don't lose them. It will be a good experience for the two of you. An exercise in willpower. You are caravan masters now, immune to the minor temptation of a beautiful and deadly young mantis. Trust me, there is far worse in the world."

Cazact left them, mulling over the situation. But there was nothing to do about it now. They had a caravan to get on the road. The two mantis spent the rest of the day getting the now much larger caravan ready and making sure they had enough supplies and fodder for the drudge lizards and alcohol for the guards. Three times they argued over who Creebtha liked best. Their meeting with her was quick, and a victory over their emotions. She asked to lead the caravan, and they denied her. She asked to put her wagons behind theirs, and they denied her. She argued with them for an hour, but eventually accepted that she would take up a position at the rear of the caravan. They pointed out that since she was an experienced master in her own right, that made her capable of guarding the rear. Creebtha agreed, her face showing no emotion, but as she walked away, her antenna twitched angrily.

Notveem was relieved. "Well, that went well."

Veem was staring at her, "She is so beautiful when she is angry."

The caravan left the next day, wagons slowly and steadily marching out of the city and passing through a long series of caverns nearby. After half a day and several miles of travel, they exited the last cavern and came to the Deep Roads. Milo was impressed. No one could tell him who had built them, only that they had always been in the Deep Dark, connecting the cities of the Wheel of Eight with many other destinations. The road itself was forty feet wide, made of tightly fitted stone blocks. The carved caverns it ran through were over a hundred feet wide. The sides of the tunnel leaned in, creating a huge arch above them. In some places, arcane lights were hung on long chains, illuminating an area. But in others, the lights were dim, broken, or missing. It was common knowledge that the lights would keep away small predators, especially the types that flew in swarms. The caravan would always end their marches underneath one of these lights, if at all possible.

Travel along the road was much faster than through the caverns. The wide road made it easy on the beasts of burden; there were no elevation changes, and they made better time with less wear on the animals. Milo walked along, looking around at what flora and fauna he could see. Slightly bored after the first hour, but determined to keep up his masquerade as a simple sage. For something to do, he began studying anything he could and making notes in a leatherbound notebook. He noted that mushrooms grew in abundance in some places off the road or on the cavern walls where trickles of moisture ran down. One of the dwarves started to walk over to pick through a patch, but was hauled back by his ear by an older dwarf. "Dang fool. This isn't some place to indulge your love of fried mushrooms. Did you even see the two skeletons in the mulch? Some Green Deathcaps were hiding in that patch."

Milo had seen the strange mushrooms and had been about to warn the dwarf when someone else took care of things. One humanoid and one canine skeleton were just visible, covered in mulch with mushrooms growing around the bones. He took the time to make a sketch of the area and describe the mushrooms. Hairy would be interested in a new variety, poisonous or not. Using his gathering tongs and a glass vial, he took one of the bright green, slender mushrooms as a sample.

Besides the mushroom incident, only one other interesting thing happened to break the monotony of the journey, but a memorable one.

The road took a turn, and they entered a larger cavern. The area on one side of the road fell away as they paralleled the path of a fast-moving subterranean river. The cavern's roof wasn't visible, even to Milo's vision, and he realized they were on the bottom of a huge crevasse. Far above, he saw a string of lights going from one side of the chasm to the other. He was trying to calculate distances, depth, and the twisting turns of their path, suspecting that was the bridge that led to Cracked Rock, when something huge roared from the river below them. He'd heard that sound before, but not so close.

One of the dwarves looked over the edge, excited. "Hot Damn! River Beastie. Those are good eating. Anyone want to piss it off and see if it will charge up at us?"

Veem sighed, "Such an action would be unwise, at least until the caravan is past the point where such a creature would climb the wall. If you wish to taunt one and engage it in battle, please be kind enough to share the succulent flesh with the rest of the caravan. They are indeed good eating."

As the caravan moved onward, Milo stayed behind, as did the dwarves, a large mantis female, and several people from one of the other wagons who were wielding massive two-handed axes. The dwarves were yelling insults and throwing rocks at what looked like a large, blue iguana. It was swatting glowing golden fish out of the water and gorging on them. The mantis cast a minor fireball down at the beast to get its attention. It was barely looking at them as it caught and devoured large fish from the river, and seemed to have no intention of being drawn away from the tasty meal.

"Shit, it's three-eye season. I forgot the goldfish were going upriver to spawn. Hard to get its attention with that much food right in front of it."

Milo looked at the people around him. "You can defeat such a creature?"

There were many nods, and the people with the axes grinned, showing sharpened teeth. "We follow the teachings of Gastromancer Twelvespice, first of the Axe Gourmets. We came on this trip looking for new monsters to kill and eat. We fear nothing that we can turn into a tasty dinner."

Milo sighed, "Well, I do speak a few odd languages. Let's see if a few words of Draconik I know are sufficient." Leaning over the edge, he waved at the creature, then shot a fireball at it from his staff. The creature roared at him, but simply ignored the blast and bent to scoop up another fish.

Shrugging, Milo yelled something at it. Then laughed, pointed, and made a rude hand gesture. That was too much, and the River Dragon leaped fifty feet up the wall and began running towards them. It looked less like a fifty-foot-long blue iguana and more like an angry dragon as it opened its mouth and roared at them. Milo took the opportunity to put some room between himself and where the fight would happen. The dragon was over the edge and looking for him five seconds later. It didn't seem to care about the other small humanoids. They were an annoyance, but it wasn't hungry and needed to kill a very rude little human. Huge axes bit into it, and the dwarves attacked with spears, hammers, and axes. The mantis sliced with her huge foreclaws, magic enhancing her strikes.

The River Dragon continued to ignore them, knocking them down and heading for Milo, who kept running. The thing chased him up one side of the road for five minutes, the warriors chasing it and landing bloody blows. One blow hit hard enough to make it roar, and Milo took the opportunity to run past it and back the way he'd come, dodging a swiping claw. Infuriated that the rude, insulting creature had avoided it, the Dragon spun, knocking most people down and breaking a few bones. Then it raced after Milo, and everyone who could raced after it. As they neared the caravan, Milo slowed, not wanting to run it into the wagons. Leveling his staff, he unleashed a half dozen Lightning Bolts at it, each one making it pause and twitch for a moment. That gave the Axe Gourmets time to deal mortal blows to it, cutting through its neck. The fight ended with only a dozen serious injuries and many broken bones. Everyone involved seemed pleased.

The mantis approached Milo, "What did you say to it, might one enquire?"

"I told it the truth: Beasts Rule and Eels Drool."

The mantis bowed politely. "Thank you, and so noted. I will make sure to never say that within a hundred miles of a dragon."

As promised, dinner was delicious, the meat cooked until tender with a delightful mushroom sauce. Milo sat and listened as the 'Epic Battle' was rehashed and embellished, then went to sleep under a wagon, wrapped in his cloak with a rock for a pillow.