"Don't get comfortable. We can't be here for long." Riley says. "We first need to find out where the hell you found this this beast, before anything."
I place it down and it's once translucent body reappears. "Like I said, I went get food by the garden and-"
Riley slams the table and her ink and quill falls to the ground. She stops talking just murmurs angrily under her breath. She takes out a map from the basket next to the war table and open it out.
Her finger lands on a town; big marked with a skull under the name "Fence of Beguard"
"The people from here are sick to the core. They should be responsible for the beast your holding. And if you got it from this place- you've started a war, Flyn." Her voice- demanding, angered makes me wonder what I've just gotten myself into. "You better hope King Leon doesn't find out about this otherwise you'll be executed."
Sweat trickles down my forehead as I remember the words my father told me. "Find a hairy beast and bring it back home."
* * *
[Earlier that day]
My mom was making baked bread and with bigor steak. Horned cows almost twice the size and quadruple the price.
"When are you going to find a job, Flyn?" My mother asks while stirring the bread batter. "I'm sure after the war there's more than enough Jo-"
Annoyed at her because she has been asking about this for a week now. "Mom, I want to become a beast tamer and they haven't even rebuilt any of the facilities yet."
She gives me a glare from the side of her eye.
"Don't raise your tone at your mother boy." That deep voice is none other than my dad. He lost his job after the war. He was a successful scientist and refused to fight in the war for personal reasons and King Leon didn't take that lightly removing him from his job and now we rely on my mom for everything. "She has been working hard lately and the least she could do with is a little appreciation."
My mom walked to towards him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "No honey it's fine. I get that I've been nagging him about it but that's no reason for him not follow his dream."
I would say that the love between these two grew stronger during the hardship of my dad losing his job, having to cut costs and switching over responsibilities to my mom.
"I'm sorry. I'll go look for a job tomorrow." I tell her.
My dad stand next to me- hand on my shoulder he tells me. "Our problems can and will be solved if you can find a hairy beast. It'll be deep into the forest out of the Ubigor tree. If anyone finds you tell them you were sent by me..."
* * *
I completely forgot to mention that to the men who sent me but I'm not sure it would've saved me either way.
"Focus, FLYN!" She snaps at me.
"Yeah, yeah." Telling her that my father sent me would mean that I would reveal something I know I shouldn't. "I think we should keep him. I'll train to become a beast handler. And maybe lear-"
Every piece of emotion she had on her face wipes off "You better be joking." She says sternly.
"No, hear me out if we-"
"Ubigor doesn't have enough recourses to rebuild beast training facilities." She scrimmages in a drawer behind her. "But…"
She throws a pair of gloves at me with metal tips made of mythical steel. "You can become a mage."
I don't have any experience with combat and only studied animals. "But-"
She interrupts me again. "You don't have a choice. You're responsible for the war and the Scald-Stalker you care so much about."
I look back at it and it's rolling around in a corner with leather pants it battered. "Okay, I'll do it." I have no interest in fighting or combat of any sorts- explaining this to my mother will be complicated.
I hear footsteps approaching the room and Riley pushes me into a corner hurling the Scad-Stalker as well. She then shoves us into a closet and trying to make as little noise as possible I hold the beast's mouth.
"Riley of Vespira." It's the king Leon. "Fancy seeing you here."
I peek through the hole and see his purple fluffy coat draped over his shoulders. His crown has a bright glowing gem on it and the rest of the crown is made of black gold. With diamond essence.
Riley is shaking while kneeling down on one knee- like one wrong word could end her life. "K-k-king L-Leon. What an honour."
He raises a finger with a big green rock on it.
"The pleasure is all mine. Now what is the meaning of that?!" His face is visibly disgusted. He points at the leather pants the beast battered. "Do you not throw away old clothing?"
Riley trembles over her words. She's trying to save our lives…
The king lowers himself and raises Riley's chin to look her in the eye. "If your planning to wage war against the Fence of Beguard, your completely wrong."
Her head is trying to resist but eventually he lets go giving her time to speak. "I just wanted to scope of our enemies and allies. Tommorrow we will patrol the trade route to ensure stock comes in safely."
"Good." He says and waves his hand.
The beast in my arms starts to get restless and the closest begins to rattle while I try and restrain the beast.
"What was that?" Kind Leon asks.
"It might be a rat. I'll deal with it later." Riley still looking down while two drops of sweat drop onto the ground.
"Ugh, you need to sort your life out or the title of Commander will go to someone else." He storms out and slams the door.
I open the closet and immediately begin apologising to Riley.
"Leave." She says her words are final and leave no room for contest. "Take the gloves with you. I'll see you tomorrow." She throws a crystal at me. "This one will lead you back to the town just leave out that wall." She points at wall many cracks and holding the crystal near it makes it glow.
"Ok." Glancing at her I wave. "Bye then." I grab the gloves and the beast and press the crystal against the wall and the shimmering portal opens up and I find myself back in front of the tree. I put the crystal in my bag and turn to the tree. It glows a bright yellow this time and it swallows me and I look up standing at the village.