Framework of the Frontier, Sain Artwell [read me a book .TXT] 📗

bully, but that doesn’t absolve my responsibility for what happened to him.”

Her frown matched his. Ember brushed William’s arm sympathetically. “It happens on the Frontier. All the time. Nobody comes here expecting a safe life. At least, they shouldn’t.”

For a half a birdsong they listened to the rocks crunching beneath the wheels of the wagon, and to an aggressively yipping monkey. William could not remember enough of the Ranger’s rulebook to know how to handle a potential wrongful death claim, or if it wasn’t even a thing. Glazing his stare on the road below, William wondered how Lidarein handled them.

His face must’ve looked troubled again, when Ember’s voice gained a sorrowful tone. “Do you regret accepting the job?”

“What? No. What makes you say that?” He raised a puzzled brow.

She looked around the rocky valley of dwarf pine. “You could be anywhere else, making a name for yourself in Nibir or some other realm. You could be doing what your god sent you here for.”

A surprised snort escaped him. “Right, paladin stuff. Nah, that guy, if he is up there, works in mysterious ways. I doubt any amount of praying, which I probably should do more now that I’m paladin, would make him give me even half of a burning bush. As for regrets, yeah I do have some of mine. Who doesn’t? But, none of them are about making the choice to be here.” He looked at Rajza again. “Yes, I made a mistake — mistakes — for which I’m responsible and feel sorry for, but I sure as hell tried my best and shouldn’t beat myself over it. I’ve been down that road already and don’t want to get trapped by that anxiety again.”

Ember nodded and turned her eyes to the ground as her lips curled downward with a self deprecating frown. “Amazing that you can do that…”

“Well, I say I do, but in practice? Let’s check again next week and I’ll have stacked up a chunky nice pile of regrets, and then I’ll implode some night with no idea how to deal with the stress.” He chuckled wryly.

“Oh no.” Ember stepped in to give him a walking hug. “If you’re about to explode some night, say the word and I will hug you back together.”

An undeserved wave of relief bubbled out with laughter. William leaned in to give his wholesome faun a kiss. “God damn, you’re precious.“

“Hehehe,” Ember giggled, stealing another quick kiss before letting him push the wagon.

William rested his eyes on her smiling eyes. “You’re making me catch feelings scary fast.”

“Pardon?”

“You’re making me fall for you, fluffy butt.” He grinned.

Her voice fumbled. “As in—”

“Love.”

Ember tripped on her hooves, yelping, and scrambled upright in a snap. Her hair was a tousled mess with twigs and pine needles and her face an equal mess with a bright blush all over her tan features. “An Eden chasing, scarf sniffing, third rate wizard like me? You couldn’t possibly mean it. You shouldn’t. You need to be more careful Will, or I won’t be able to take it as a joke.”

“It’s not.”

She took deep breaths, brushing locks of dirty golden hair behind a curled black horn as she bit down a growing grin. “Umm… Can I say what I think later? Maybe tonight?”

“Sure.” William chuckled, rather enjoying the reaction he was causing. He had a good fluffy feeling about tonight, so fluffy that he nearly missed what she had said. “Eden chasing?”

Ember raised an ear and a brow. “Oh, it’s a saying. Like a ‘pipe dream’.”

“So, Eden is a place, a realm?”

“Maybe, but nobody’s ever seen it. That’s why you call people Eden chasers. Why? Does it mean something in your realm?”

“A bunch of things…” Eden’s Gate was the ‘campaign’ Mitchelle said she was adapting for us. Was it connected to the strange object that sent us here?

What does it matter if it was?

I didn’t. Not to William.

Shaking his head, he continued. “It’s basically an place in our Abrahamic legends too, the cradle of humanity from which we were supposedly banished after eating the apple of knowledge.”

“Ooh?” No longer flustered, Ember lit up with curiosity instead. “Legends from Planet Earth? Please do share.”

So he did, and retold a heavily paraphrased ‘William Adams’ version of the Fall of Man. Ember nearly tripped again when jolting notes of it down in her moleskine.

Eventually, they rolled past the ruined gateway of Nastall to find it, surprisingly, peaceful. William had mentally rehearsed ways to break the news of Rajza’s death to his gang; each ending in worse chaos than the last. But, luckily it did not seem like they were there. Luckily? You’re gonna have to deal with them eventually dumbass.

“Ey!” The imprisoned goblin clanked the bars of her cellar window. “Lemme out. My time’s up, innit? I learned my lesson, I swear I learned it.”

“Two days was it?” William parked the wagon before the Ranger’s office.

“Lemme out! Lemme out, lemme out!”

“Alright, alright. Gimme a sec. I better not see you stir trouble or grope unconscious people again.” William gave her a stern look.

The goblin snorted. “Ain’t gonna grope Rajza’s ass, that’s for certain. How’d he die?”

“Nevija and Raia happened.”

“Oooh, meaty rumors. Was it love triangle or treasure? They dead too?”

“Not sure.”

Her widening grin revealed a golden tooth. “Will ye offer a bounty?”

“Hmm.” William tapped his chin. He had not thought about it, but, given that he was effectively mayor, judge, jury, and executioner, putting a bounty on their heads was perfectly within his rights. “Yeah, think I will. Alive. Bring them in alive if you run into them.”

“Can try.”

“Thanks.” William went downstairs to set her free. Her band of five dismantled their camp from the Ranger’s office lobby in a jiffy, and when they rowed out, William could hear with the bickering of