Wood, Stone and Bone Read online

  Chronicles of a Royal Pet:

  Wood, Stone, and Bone

  Ian Rodgers

  Text copyright © 2017 Ian Rodgers

  All Rights Reserved

  Dedicated to all the people who have supported me, and for everyone who has read my books and helped make my stories come to life.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1: Sour Soil

  Chapter 2: Gnomes and drinks

  Chapter 3: On the road work

  Chapter 4: To the Wooden City

  Chapter 5: Ride the moose

  Chapter 6: Investigating rumors

  Chapter 7: Ranking up

  Chapter 8: To tread upon stone

  Chapter 9: When the dead walk

  Chapter 10: In the dark

  Chapter 11: Gift from a goddess

  Chapter 12: Muddy steps

  Chapter 13: A jiggly good time!

  Chapter 14: Discoveries and deceptions

  Chapter 15: Trampled dreams

  Chapter 16: Night-time greetings

  Chapter 17: Slime and rage

  Chapter 18: The scales of fate

  Chapter 19: Upon future tides, we drift

  Chapter 1: Sour Soil

  Wind crawled quickly through the low hanging branches of trees, stirring the leaves and rattling twigs. I rolled through the forest, wary and constantly on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary.

  Every time some unusual sound grumbled out from the darkened woods I tensed, gelatinous body ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.

  At length I found a spot where some roots had dug out a small burrow in the ground. I could sense no life coming from it, and so slipped inside after only a small amount of hesitation. I needed shelter. I needed sleep.

  A loud snap echoed through the unnaturally still forest, and I quivered in the hiding hole. When nothing happened for a few seconds I turned my attention to the tiny red and grey figure on my head.

  “Do you sense anything, Rosa?”

  (No, master.)

  I let out a sigh of relief and reached out with a purple tendril, patting her on the head in thanks. The miniature lead grey humanoid hummed with pleasure at my affection, gently nuzzling me in return. Her beautiful glass-like wings fluttered and stirred motes of dust. In her chest, a plump red ruby glowed faintly, lacking its usual luminescence due to her own fatigue.

  Rosa the Carbuncle yawned cutely before curling up like a kitten on top on my head. I patted her once more.

  “Go to sleep, Rosa. I’ll be right here.” She nodded mutely and I felt her succumb to her weariness.

  I could feel my own drowsiness approaching rapidly, but I held off on sleep’s sweet embrace for the moment. I extended another tendril and began to draw sigils and symbols into the dirt and upon the bark around us.

  The runes gave off a hum of power as my mana filled them, and I burbled proudly at the wards I had erected around the hole for the evening. It was a rushed job, but it would do for now. If anything approached us in our sleep I would know.

  ~I can detect no movement outside, and the wards are stable. I shall take over from here.~

  “Thanks Tara, you’re a life-saver,” I yawned. At last, I closed off my myriad senses to the world, and let sleep finally come.

  .

  ~Wake up!~

  Tara’s shout, as well as the blaring in my head from the Alarm wards I’d set-up, roared into my mind and I jolted awake.

  “Damn it!” I swore as I felt the barriers I’d made crumble into nothingness. I shot out of the burrow, fully aware of what was going to happen next.

  And not a moment too soon! Behind me the roots creaked and groaned before constricting, crushing the empty space. Had I and Rosa still been inside, we would have been pulped! The sudden motion and burst of magic woke Rosa, and she clung to me for dear life.

  (Look out!) I obeyed Rosa’s scream and narrowly missed being impaled by a long, black root covered in thorny protrusions that shot up from beneath me.

  I jumped again, dodging more of the twisted roots erupting out from the ground. Each one aimed for my core, but I was fast enough to evade. Some of the thorns did tear at my slimy flesh, but they were minor wounds, instantly healed by my rapid regeneration.

  By now my flight had taken me further into the trees, and they now loomed sinisterly over me. This was no panic induced illusion, or a magical one. The trees really had become twisted and monstrous in the short time I had been asleep.

  One of them moved, a branch lashing out at me, the bark sharper and deadlier than was natural. Thin grooves were torn into the packed dirt where the branch struck.

  Another tree shook violently and fired its leaves off at me. They were sharpened as well, like blades of iron. Instead of dodging the swarm of them I held out a tendril.

  “Let nothing that flies strike me! Arrow Shield!” I cried, and a shimmering purple disc of energy appeared before me. Although normally for stopping arrows and other similar solid projectiles, it worked well enough on the magically enhanced leaves, scattering and deflecting them before they could get closer.

  (The earth is sour) Rosa muttered and I gave a grunt of agreement.

  I could feel the roiling, nauseating magic that now permeated the forest in my very core. It was unnatural. No ordinary being could bend so many trees to their will, or use such dark magic without a care.

  As a Carbuncle, Rosa was far more attuned to the natural world than I was. I had no doubt this magic was hurting her even worse, and that she could see far more clearly how deep the corruption went into the soil and wood around us.

  As I was planning my next move several of the trees ripped themselves from the earth and scuttled forth to block my escape routes, their roots acting like obscenely bloated spider’s legs.

  I raised my tendril again and coated it in potent acid before I lashed out at a nearby tree. I tore through the trunk and toppled it, giving me an avenue of escape. Holding Rosa close to me I darted through the underbrush, avoiding more thorny roots, jagged branches, and bladed leaves.

  ~Keep going! It’s only a few more feet! Then we’ll be out of the region that is being influenced!~ Tara instructed in my mind. I obeyed, pushing myself to squirm even faster through the cursed section of forest.

  Another tree dared to bar my path and I let out a growl of annoyance.

  “This is getting on my nerves!” I shouted. “Melting Lance!”

  The high level Acid spell blasted a gaping hole straight through the trunk and I dove through it, finally clearing the tainted region.

  “Freaking evil trees,” I grumbled, sending a glare back at the forest. Behind me, I could feel whatever had possessed the trees fade away. As the dark magic left, the trees died. Roots withered, bark cracked and oozed black, tar-like sap, and leaves turned brown and crumbled to dust.

  As the surge of excitement and danger passed I whimpered, feeling my earlier weariness return with a vengeance.

  “Tara, how long did we get to sleep this time?”

  ~Two hours and nine minutes,~ the Spirit of Knowledge stated.

  “How considerate! He gave us six more minutes compared to last night,” I replied, sarcasm dripping from my tone.

  Rosa ignored our conversation and yawned again before she curled up on my head.

  “Fine. Get some rest,” I said kindly, shifting my form slightly so the tiny Fey would not slip off while I traveled.

  I elongated and became more oval shaped than my previous spherical form. Dozens of stubby little nubs appeared beneath me, acting as legs. All in all, I looked like a massive purple and gold centipede. Hopefully I wouldn’t come across any adventurers this evening. I hated being mistaken for a giant, grotesque insect.

  Not that being in
my original form helped much, either. Honestly, it’s like they’ve never seen an Ooze carrying a jewel-studded fairy-thing before!

  I looked up at the moon wistfully.

  “How much further, Tara?”

  ~The town of Volden is nineteen miles from here. You should reach it sometime early in the morning if you keep up a steady pace.~

  I swore to myself but began moving nonetheless. I had places to be, and another sleepless night just seemed to be inevitable.

  .

  From the shadows a silver mask engraved with a stylized image of a tree with splayed roots and branches appeared and stared after the purple and gold slime that had managed to escape the ambush yet again. Then, a form draped in a robe blacker than night pushed itself out of the tree.

  A smile, unseen by all, was the response to the Ooze’s flight. He was having far more fun tormenting the little creature than he probably should, but he couldn’t help it. The Hierophant wanted the Chosen Ones of Nia to suffer, and this Royal Ooze was the only one yet discovered.

  So far neither Sword nor Spiral had found their Chosen Ones yet, which meant he had all the honor of being the first to test his assigned ‘hero.’ And if he constantly attacked at night, depriving it of rest, well, that was just a bonus.

  The masked figure shifted in darkness, avoiding the beams of moonlight that now bathed the forest. The Goddess of the Moon was so very protective of her daughter’s minions. If she found him, she would doubtlessly retaliate.

  He could feel the anger and distaste of the Four Faced Goddess of Nature as well while he tainted and tore down a portion of her domain for his own amusement.

  It was time to go. No need to further antagonize the deities. And there was always tomorrow for the slime’s torment. The shadows swallowed him, and the dread that had consumed the woods vanished as if it had never been.

  Chapter 2: Gnomes and drinks

  (Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?)

  “No!” I cried for the umpteenth time at the giddy Carbuncle on my back. Instead of being chastised like I’d hoped, she giggled and began asking the question all over again.

  “Please, Rosa, bother Tara,” I begged, urging the Fey-kin to speak with our other companion instead of me. After a moment to think it over she acquiesced, and I could hear a faint vowing of vengeance from the Spirit of Knowledge as the chatty gem bearing fairy started to talk to her.

  Finally given a moment of peace I sighed in relief and continued to trudge forward, my oddly shaped body leading us onwards.

  It was shortly after dawn. Rosa had been up with the sun, and had been incessantly happy and talkative. I was glad she was feeling better, and had gotten over last night’s incident, but it wasn’t very helpful to me. I was forced to endure her cheerfulness without much sleep beforehand. It was unpleasant to say the least.

  Still, the new freedom I found gave me time to think over what had happened recently.

  I, Jelly the Royal Ooze, was on a training mission. Ever since my beloved owner Princess Liliana Roan was nearly turned into a magically lobotomized slave by her aunt I had been on the road.

  Some of my friends and companions back at the Royal Varian Mages Academy thought it was a foolish idea to quit my education and abandon the well protected city.

  They didn’t understand that I was putting everyone there in danger. No matter how strong the headmaster, Arnolt Cantos, was, it was not safe from those who hunted me now. The World Rebellion was not just a minor backwaters cult run by wackos. No, they were a powerful, far-reaching cult run by extremely powerful wackos.

  So I moved on. Constantly traveling around Orria disguised as an adventurer let me hone my survival skills and my magical talents in the field against actual foes.

  And despite their arguments about dropping out of the Academy after only one year, I knew this had to be done.

  Besides, I hadn’t actually dropped out. I was still attending classes through ‘distance learning.’ And, I had a trick for visiting the Academy no matter where I was in the world!

  (Jelly, guess what?)

  “What, Rosa?” I replied, biting back on a groan.

  (We’re there!)

  “What?!” I shouted, looking around in panic. Two pairs of laughter greeted me, and I winced at being tricked. I should have known we hadn’t arrived at Volden without my senses picking it up.

  Although now that I was focusing on my surroundings more actively, I could detect a large amount of living beings moving around, as well as numerous structures.

  ~Actually, we have arrived. At the town limits, of course. We thought you might want to put on your disguise before you got any closer,~ the feminine voice in my head spoke up, and I wobbled my body in thanks.

  Rosa flew off me as I underwent my transformation. My centipede form receded back into my natural spherical shape to start with. Then, I expanded, growing larger.

  In appearance, I was a blob of royal purple slime shaped like a ball. In the center of my squishy body was a fist sized golden orb, visible through the opaque mass surrounding it. That was my core. My soul and power made manifest. All Oozes had one, but mine did far more than theirs. I was the only one of my kind, after all. The only sapient Ooze in all of Erafore.

  Once I was about six feet in diameter, I began to extend five tendrils. As they grew outwards they pulled my gooey body with them, so my mass was distributed among them. Four were longer than the fifth, though, and my body flattened out somewhat as well, becoming more oblong. Not unlike when I’d been imitating a centipede, come to think of it.

  The whole process took only a couple of seconds, and when it was done, I looked like a vaguely humanoid being made of purple jelly with a golden orb resting where a regular person’s heart would be.

  Now that I was sort of shaped like a human I started to work on the second step of my disguise. Reaching into my essence, I rummaged around for a bit before withdrawing a long black robe.

  A few months after I was picked up as a pet by Liliana she and her brother Julius were attacked by members of the World Rebellion. They thought she had been the subject of a prophecy and wanted her out of the picture.

  Long story short, I killed one of the assassins and in the process ended up eating a Bag of Holding, an enchanted container designed to hold more than it normally could. After consuming it my body assimilated its magic, allowing me to store my excess matter and other objects inside of myself in a sort of separate reality only I could access.

  It was incredibly useful for storing everything and anything. While on the road I could just leave all my camping supplies inside my body and only remove them when necessary.

  The robe I removed from my Pocket Dimension was thick and heavy, worn by mages who were on the road. It was waterproof and durable, and did not show off my features. I slipped it on, the long sleeves covering my ‘hands’ while the hemline covered my ‘feet’ almost completely.

  Next was a big, wide brimmed pointy hat, the stereotypical ones worn by witches and elderly wizards. It was large enough to cover my ‘face’ in shadows, which meant someone had to look really close to see any features from underneath it.

  The third and final step was perhaps the most important. Even with arms, legs, and a head I did not look remotely human. Even covering up with a robe and hat would not fool anyone. I was simply too unnatural looking.

  So, to fix that, I cast a complex illusion over my entire body, using the robe and hat as the anchors. Illusory flesh covered my body, and made it appear as if I was an ordinary human. I now had brown hair and brown eyes with pale, slightly sunburnt skin. All in all, as I observed my new form, I felt and looked like an average young mage who had only just recently become an adventurer.

  It was not a perfect disguise, however. Illusions are one of my weaker talents. The Element of Dream, where illusions fell under and drew power from, was just not my strong suit. The other seven were alright though. I could fling acid, raise shields, shake the earth, and shower enemies wi
th torrents of raw magical power, but I lacked the finesse to make my illusion spells completely believable.

  If anyone were to look closely, they’d see flaws. I did not need to breathe like a human, and my illusory form couldn’t mimic the rise and fall of a chest. My eyes were dull, lifeless, and did not blink. Unless I focused on that part of the illusion my face looked like that of a cadaver.

  My hands were another problem. The illusion gave me fingers, which were something I did not have normally. They were too small and complicated for me to replicate, so my ‘arms’ just ended in smooth nubs. Making the illusion mimic fingers was important yet consuming, and took a lot of effort to pull off correctly.

  At least my feet were easy enough to cover. No one really looked at boots, and I could easily shape my ‘legs’ to fit inside a pair without issue. They were good boots too. Nice solid ones made of Wyvern hide. I’d stripped the corpses of enough of those blasted Lesser Dragons when they’d assaulted the Academy, I could have gotten rich making dozens of pairs of boots, shoes, jackets and handbags.

  In regards to my fake form, those observations could all be made by anyone with a sharp, scrutinizing eye. All it would take to tell I was wearing an illusion was a basic Detect Magic cantrip and I would light up like a bonfire to anyone with magical senses. A decent mage could see through my disguise no problem. Hells, even a simple anti-illusion Break Image spell could shatter it.

  But it was good enough to pass through gates and get through crowds without drawing any attention. And that was all it had to do.

  My disguise complete, Rosa fluttered down and alighted on the brim of my hat, dangling her legs over the edge of her new seat. I chuckled at her antics but let her stay where she was.

  ‘One foot in front of the other,’ I thought to myself, my dance lessons with Lady Rene Bluemont, one of my owner’s instructors, coming to mind as I began my elaborate farce of pretending to be a human.

  Before I could forget though, I removed my adventurer’s tag from my Pocket Dimension and put it around my neck. My bronze D-rank badge glittered in the early morning light as I made my way towards the town that was slowly waking up nearby.