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Helden grabbed a fistful of his hair with his right hand. His eyes were bloodshot, and his skin was so pale it seemed gray. He stared at the pile of hay laid out on the stable floor. “Why does this feel like water too!?” he shouted and kicked the pile, scattering yellow straws into the air.
Ingwer squatted down and picked up a piece of straw. Clearly, it was dry. There were no hints of moisture on the straw. However, when she leaned forward and placed her chest on top of the partially destroyed pile, it suddenly felt like she had laid down in a puddle of water instead. She sighed as she pushed off the ground with her palms and climbed to her feet. “The straw and the bedding aren’t the problem,” she said and shook her head. “I think it’s quite clear the problem is with the three of us. We’ve been cursed.”
Forster sneered and turned her head towards Blau. “So, out of the four of us, the only person that happens to not be cursed is the one proficient in using curses herself.”
“I’m a scholar,” Blau said and wrinkled her nose. “I don’t cast curses. I cast spells. Are you implying I’m the one to blame for this?”
“Don’t fight amongst yourselves,” Helden said and exhaled. He smoothed out his hair and relaxed his hands. “There’s no way Blau would curse us, and she has no incentive to. If anything, she’s unaffected by the curses because she’s more attuned to magic than we are.”
“Could it be the target?” Blau asked. “There was a fairy accompanying her, wasn’t there? Fairies are notorious due to their curses.”
Helden nodded. There really did seem to be a fairy there. “The target must’ve noticed our intentions,” Helden said and sighed. “It’s no wonder why she didn’t move yesterday. She knew we wouldn’t be able to sleep, and as long as we’re stalking her, I suspect the fairy will do everything in her power to keep us from being in our peak condition.”
“So, we have to strike now,” Forster said. She glanced at her companions. “Unless we want to give up?”
Helden frowned. Hunting an alerted target was much more difficult than hunting one that was off guard. The safest thing to do was retreat; however, if the target was dangerous, would they really have to use petty tricks like curses against them? “We’re not giving up. We’ll attack the today before we lose any more sleep.”
***
Stella flitted next to Vur’s snot bubble and poked it with her finger. It popped. Vur snorted, and his eyes fluttered open. “Good morning, Stella.”
“Morning, Vur!” Stella said and beamed. “Are you ready for a fun and exciting day full of hunting evil beasts?”
Vur yawned and sat up. He smacked his lips a few times and scratched his butt. “I’d rather sleep instead.”
Stella clicked her tongue. “What did I say about sleeping your life away? You should remember why you’re out here and not sleeping at home right now.”
A sigh escaped from Vur’s mouth, and he climbed to his feet. “Okay,” he said. “Where are we going?”
The Recordkeeper opened her eyes. “We’re doing something today?” she asked. “If we head east of here, we’ll run into a cluster of them.”
Vur nodded. He dropped onto all fours, and blue scales sprouted out of his skin.
“Wait!” Stella said. “Don’t turn into a dragon.”
Vur tilted his head. “Why not?” he asked but stopped his transformation. The scales sank back into his skin, and he stood up.
“There’s a group of people following us,” Stella said. “If you turn into a dragon, you’ll scare them away.”
Vur nodded. “They should be scared.”
Stella pursed her lips. “Aren’t you supposed to ask why they’re following us?”
“But I don’t care?” Vur tilted his head to the other side.
Stella sighed. “Where’s your sense of curiosity, Vur? You’re supposed to be young! The world is supposed to be filled with wonder, and you’re supposed to question why things are the way they are.”
“That sounds like a lot of unnecessary thinking,” Vur said and frowned.
Stella sighed again and shook her head in an exaggerated manner. “I’m really worried about you, Vur. At this rate, you’ll turn into one of those mossy dragons that’ve slept for thousands of years at a time.”
Vur’s eyes lit up. “There’s dragons like that?”
“If I say yes, is your goal going to be like one of them?”
“Maybe in the future.”
“No,” Stella said. “Mossy dragons don’t exist.”
Vur rubbed his chin as if he didn’t quite believe Stella’s words. He shrugged. “Are we walking then?”
“If you don’t want to walk, you can make Deedee walk for you,” Stella said upon seeing the reluctance on Vur’s face. “Just have him create a horse made out of dirt, and you can ride that to our destination.”
“Can you do that, Deedee?” Vur asked, tapping on the brown rune on his arm.
“I don’t have a choice, do I?” Diamant asked. A moment later, the brown rune lit up, and a lump or dirt rose up in front of Vur. Some parts of it fell away, leaving behind the figure of a large spider.
Vur climbed on top of it and patted the space beside him. “Do you want to sit?”
“Is that even a question?” the Recordkeeper asked and took a seat beside Vur. “The previous Recordkeeper said it’d be hard to find someone lazier than me, but that clearly isn’t the case.”
“I’m not lazy,” Vur said as the spider scuttled into the woods. “I just don’t like doing things I don’t have to. It’s much easier to get someone else to do it for me.”
“Isn’t that the definition of lazy?”
“No, the definition of lazy is not wanting to exert energy.”
The Recordkeeper’s brow furrowed. “But you want to sleep all day.”
“Sleeping takes up a lot of energy,” Vur said. “Have you tried sleeping for more than a week at a time? It’s very difficult.”