B1C20: The Private Link

Ebor Town, or bust!

While I questioned the authenticity of our mode of transportation, it was a helluva’ lot better than traveling by steed, which would have easily taken us a couple days from the valley. Once we landed under the stars of Ebor town, I immediately wanted to barf. The trip left me with a queasy stomach and disoriented senses. I groaned and clutched my head, trying to regain my bearings, but I couldn’t hold it back as I leaped right out of the wagon and into a nearby bush to hurl.

It didn’t help that there was what looked like dog crap a mere four inches away from me, either.

“Lightweight,” Nolan quipped as he dismounted, walking right past me from across the street.

‘Well excuse me for not being an expert on portal travel in the era of modern modes of transportation!’ I retorted, but then when I looked up and took a moment to absorb my surroundings, I realized that we were in the bosom of civilization.

Insert culture shock.

Being around a crowd–it was a first for me. What a stark contrast from the barrenlands! The area had some striking similarities to fantasy RPG town market plazas, and this one was gorgeous. I was getting vivid rustic European vibes right off the bat. From brick-lined houses with timber frames to cobblestone streets, it was like walking into a scene from my Chaos Divide game. Lanterns hung from poles spaced across every street corner, casting soft, warm lighting about the square. Soon my nausea dissipated, and it was replaced by absolute awe.

It was hard not to take in all the intricate detail. The hanging flowers draped over balconies, the smell of fresh baked bread wafting from a nearby bakery and even the sound of metal pounding metal from a nearby blacksmith stall. Everything was so vibrantly alive and buzzing with activity even at this hour of the night.

“Don’t stray too far,” Nolan said to me as I walked to his side. This area sure wasn’t short on people, and by people, I meant beastkin. Humanoid bears, cats, rabbits, foxes, even snakes and raccoons. Young and old, men and women. Some working, others shopping. Beastkin children played in the streets while elderly folk congregated on benches. Street vendors shouted over the uppity music in the background selling armor, while others barked at people passing, trying to sell them their magical trinkets. The space was filled with life, where constant chatter filled the air, mixed with the occasional barks of roaming dogs and the clopping of hooves against cobblestone.

Hmm, normal dogs and horses… that made me wonder if these beastkin could shapeshift….

“Oh, mama! Dragon!” a random child with messy blond hair and pointy furry ears cried as he pointed at me. He had a lion’s tail and a cute button nose, but there was nothing cute with the amount of attention he was drawing toward me!

Before he could dash over and grab me, Nolan snatched me up by my collar, my scaly skin between his fingers as he looked down at the kid. “No touching,” he retorted. “She isn’t a wild dragon.”

The boy looked up at Nolan lost as someone came to his side.

“Well, everything has a price,” the mother said as he stood by her son, with her hand already in her pocket. She too was in the feline family, but her features were more pronounced than her son’s. “A baby frost dragon? She looks pretty healthy, too. Round and well fed.”

Did she just call me fat?

“Training them young will help with obedience. My son could use a dragon who is already conditioned before he joins the dragon rider academy.”

She pulled out a pocket’s worth of gold coins, Nolan’s eyes shimmering from them.

“So, name your price. Nothing beats an easy ride to the skies.” She smiled greedily.

“Huh.” Nolan said in short, as if he were considering selling me!

“So what do you say?” her voice sang.

‘Don’t even think about it,’ I hissed at Nolan, my bright eyes piercing into him. Nolan glanced at me and then back at the boy and his mother. He smirked.

“I’m afraid she’s not for sale,” he said coolly, “She’s a tad too feisty for my liking, sure, but unfortunately she’s mine.” His tone was playful yet firm.

“Really? Not even for 10 gold coins?” she persisted, opening her hand up to reveal her offer.

Nolan snorted. “That’s an awful lot to offer for an infant dragon.”

“Or, not enough. It doesn’t seem like you’re considering it. How about I double it?”

Nolan’s heart was racing.

My perception was higher since I leveled up, and now, my sense of hearing was sharper. It was reliable enough to hear the wild thumping in his chest as he suspended me in the air, away from the desperate mother.

“You serious? 20 gold coins?”

‘Nolan?!’

He shook his head, snapping out of it. “No deal.”

The woman huffed in disappointment. “Very well,” she said, her eyes lingering on me before she slowly approached Nolan. “If that’s your final answer, unless of course, there’s something else I can do to sweeten the deal?”

She batted her lashes, giving Nolan the look. I bet if her son wasn’t behind her, she’d really lay it on the gunslinger.

“And I mean, anything,” she whispered, and then leaned over his ear. “I know how you human types like them furry and frisky….”

He nodded. “I’m good.”

The woman drew back, her exotic green eyes wide in surprise before they narrowed into slits. She huffed in annoyance and straightened up, taking her son by the hand. “Your loss,” she said icily before turning away.

Nolan looked over his shoulder and then carried us to an alleyway. He searched his inventory and pulled out the wolf pelt before proceeding to wrap me with it.

‘Hey, what are you—’

“I'd rather be safe now than sorry later. I don’t want any more eyes on you this early in the game.”

From goblins wanting to eat me to beastkin wanting to enslave me; I could see why he wanted me tucked away.

After he slipped me in his arm like a handbag, he walked over to the nearest inn. Amili’s Inn looked very cozy and friendly. The building was lit with a warm, inviting glow from within, its wooden structure creaking comfortingly in the cool breeze. The owner, someone who looked just as friendly, was a burly bear beastkin with a grayish-white beard from chin to belly. He seemed to know Nolan….

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

A soft smile stretched on his face. “It’s good to see you again, Black. What can I do for ya, lad?” he rumbled, his voice just as deep and gruff as you’d expect of a bear.

I could barely see much as he stood there at the front desk just outside of the façade of the inn, but along the corner of my eye I did see someone passing a glance my way. Shuffling my tiny body further in the pelt, I hid myself, making sure that my face was covered too.

Nolan booked a room for one night, which told me that he wasn’t planning on staying in town long after he paid a visit to his friend at the café.

“Thanks. You’re at the last door in the hallway of the west wing. Enjoy yer night!”

Nolan nodded and went on inside with the key, and when he settled me down on the bed, I knew we were in the clear.

“Before I forget, you need to discover private channels,” Nolan said. “That way, when we talk telepathically, our conversation will stay between us.”

‘I thought tele links work like having regular open conversations?’

“That, and then some. Dragons can select who they want to talk to. It’s an innate ability.”

‘And the reason why Wilna could do it?’

He snorted. “She’s a witch.”

‘I walked right into that one, didn’t I?’

“All right, then. Discover it.”

‘You say it like it’s something I could pull out of my hat!’ I jested.

“You have the ability to.”

‘I have zero guidance!’ I reminded him. ‘Besides, it isn’t like I have someone else here to talk to.’

“Doesn’t matter. Pick an object around this room to focus on and have at it. I’ll tell you if I can hear you chatting. Go on, block me.”

Have a private telepathic conversation with an inanimate object? Could he hear the words coming out of his mouth, or?

“You do this, and you’ll make our lives a lot easier.”

I grumbled a bit, but did as he suggested. I turned toward the wooden chest at the foot of the bed, and mentally yelled out, ‘Hello there, grand carrier of clothes!’

I could feel Nolan judging me with his eye without even looking at him, but I was too focused on the chest, waiting for some sort of response on his part.

“You’re loud. It’s not a private channel.”

I tried again with the same result.

“Any progress?” Nolan asked, leaning against the wall of the room.

‘Not yet!’ I replied, slightly frustrated.

“Well then, hurry up.”

‘If you think you could do better, why don’t you try it?!’

“Just focus on one object and one object only. It’s not that hard.”

‘Easy to say for someone who has never done it before!’

“On second thought,” he said as he slowly walked up to me while he scratched his scruffy beard. “I don’t think it’d work with inanimate objects. You need to connect on a biological level, with a living target that has an electrical current,” he processed. “It’s something I overlooked. It’s not every day I have to trigger a dragon’s innate skillset.”

‘So, we are talking brainwaves?’

“Beta to be exact. The distance needs to be close for the connection.”

‘Then I’ll use it on my dire wolf,’ I said. ‘This will also give me an opportunity to practice summoning him, too.’

“Go for it.”

Okay, I needed to pull my thrall out of my spatial domain. Should be easy enough, right?

Nolan took a few steps back and stood there, patiently waiting for the show. I opened my codex and executed the command [Summon], speaking the word -Awaken- internally. Instantly, a warm presence enveloped my mind, gentle yet powerful. The room around me seemed to shimmer, the air crackling with energy. The sensation was familiar—intense but not unpleasant, like an electric current coursing through my veins. Then there was a gust of wind stirring up in the middle of the room, followed by a loud popping noise as a fissure began to form.

The powerful torrent finally spat out my big pup, whose mass knocked over the nightstand and the coffee table.

“Shit, put a leash on that, would you?” Nolan retorted, slightly edging himself further into the corner to stand clear from the beast.

‘Good boy,’ I said as I waggled my tail delightfully. His snout twitched, and he looked at me with his piercing eyes. Nolan tried to hide the suitable impression on his face.

“Great. Now before he steamrolls us over, try to establish your telepathic link,” Nolan instructed.

Instead of focusing on an inanimate object, I directed my eyes on my beautiful beast. Channeling beta waves of another creature sounded harder than it actually was, but obviously, I’d done it before. The only difference now was isolating those waves and zeroing in on them.

The wolf twitched and his ears perked up, like he’d suddenly become aware of something. The connection felt much stronger than before. I wasn’t sure if our bond had something to do with that, or my higher level of perception.

I began to feel a pull from deep within me, a gentle tug in the direction of my dire wolf. It felt like a beckoning, an invitation from some latent part of my mind.

It certainly felt tingly. Like a sparkling bottle of Sprite.

‘I’m craving a hot rack of spicy buffalo wings right now,’ I said to my furry friend, who gave me the cute puppy head tilt and whimper combo. It was irresistible even for a tiny thing like me. ‘Pretty cute behemoth you are; you know, when you aren’t trying to eat my face. Sit if you can hear me.’ I said, and he did as he was told. I’d communicated with him telepathically, however this time, I pushed past Nolan’s distracting presence and just focused on the dire wolf.

Everything else in the room was static noise. There was a tangible sensation around me and the large beast, like we were isolated in our own little void.

I turned to the gunslinger and asked, ‘Did you hear me?’

He shook his head, looking surprised. “No, I couldn’t hear anything that time.”

Innate Skill Discovered:

[Private Link]

Creatures currently allowed to channel:

Level 5 Dire Wolf

Add new creature?

[Y] [N]

I smiled triumphantly when my codex revealed a new skill, [Private Link]. That confirmed that I had done the task right, and with my new found skill, I could talk to my party privately.

I was asked if I wanted to add more creatures to my private channel, which was cool. I guess this meant that not only could I initiate a private link, but anyone on this list could too. So I added Nolan to my list:

[Private Link]

Creatures currently allowed to channel:

Level 5 Dire Wolf

Nolan Black

Add new creature?

[Y] [N]

I rejected the offer this time. I made a mental note to add my thralls to this list as I got them.

“It’ll be harder to do that when in a crowd, so practice that until it becomes natural to you.”

‘This is so sweet!’ I beamed. ‘Now I can smack talk you behind your back with my new pet!’

He rolled his eye at me.

‘I haven’t given it any serious thought, but I should name my dire wolf.’

“Why? It’s just a tool.”

‘Yeah, I know, but he’s my first thrall. That’s special, and unique. There will never be another first.’ I turned my head back to the wolf. ‘From now on, your name is Dusty!’ I said after breaking the private channel.

“Great. Now put Dusty away and get some shuteye. We have a busy day ahead of us.”