Brixaby dropped down right in front of the adventuring groups, startling a few people.

Lopez and his men had been leading the way, with the rest ranged far to the right and left on either side. Arthur got the impression that healthy competition had turned to active dislike among the different adventurers, and the solution was to stay far away from one another.

Once he recovered from the shock, Lopez must have read the look on Arthur’s face because his own expression went grim. “What’s wrong?”

“Our scourgelings problem has gotten bigger,” Arthur said, and then started to describe the nest he’d seen. As he spoke, the adventurers crowded close to hear.

However, when Arthur explained that a fissure had opened in the ground a lot like a mini-eruption, he was interrupted by whoops of delight. Some people even took off their wide-brimmed hats and waved them in the air.

“This isn’t a good thing!” Arthur snapped, shocked. “It’s a precursor to an eruption.”

All the way back, he had replayed Soledad’s story of what happened in N’awlens over and over, and worried that these people were cutting it too close here.

But he might as well have been speaking to brick walls. Adventurers had already turned to their friends and were making plans with one another, discussing plans of attack and how to split the loot.

Lopez gave a sympathetic shrug. “Things like this happen when the dark heart is almost ready for its harvest. It’s just another sign we’re nearly there.”

Arthur grit his teeth. “I get it’s a good opportunity for shards and cards, but if those scourgelings make their way to the city—“

“That’s why we’re here,” Lopez said.

Someone called from the back, “What’s wrong, dragon rider? You a coward?”

Brixaby’s head snapped up toward the direction of the speaker and boomed out, “My rider is no coward! Say that again, to my teeth!”

The heckler didn’t speak up, but there were a few audible snickers.

Arthur kept a tight rein on his temper. “I’m not afraid to fight scourgelings, but I’ve also seen what they do to people. They’ve destroyed incoming wagon trains up and down this interstate—“

“Well, that’s the risk they take!” someone else yelled. “No one said life was fair.”

There was a difference between life not being fair and actively inviting a catastrophe, but the speaker’s voice had come from a place where no one had stood. Probably thanks to Brixaby’s threat. Arthur suspected a wind card was at play, and he wasn’t about to get into a shouting match with someone who wouldn’t show his face.

Jon, who was in charge of the Lightning Cats, came up to Lopez. “Sheriff, may my group have permission to move forward? Many of us have speed enhancements.” He looked at Arthur. “Since time is clearly of the essence.”

Lopez took a moment to remove his wide hat and scratch a hand through his dark, sweaty hair before replacing his hat again. He nodded. “Yes, I suppose it’s time.”

That got another round of whoops, as well as groans from others who didn’t have a way to outpace the others. There were a few men — and a woman or two — who had body modifications that were bulky and geared toward defense. They wouldn’t be fast movers.

Lopez held up his hand, and the adventurers fell silent.

“You all know the rules: Kill as many as you can, but only tagged bodies get you the official credit. I need group leaders right here so me and my deputies can pass out the tags and log who gets what.”

One of the men by Lopez pulled out a box full of organized paper slips, all with twine on the ends. The paper stacks were arranged in a rainbow of colors. As Arthur watched, he saw each group was assigned its own color.

The leaders each got their own thick stack and then turned to either pass them out to the rest of their party or kept them in their own possession, probably to tag the bodies themselves.

When the last group leader was assigned their tag and color, Lopez turned to Arthur. “You’ve done what you’ve come here to do by leading us to the nest, but I’d still like your help cleaning up, if you can.”

“Of course, we’ll fight,” Arthur said, annoyed. It seemed Lopez was also mistaking his disgust for playing stupid games with scourgelings as cowardice.

“We’ve very likely killed more scourgelings than your adventuring groups ever have, combined. And we’ll gladly kill more,” Brixaby added.

“Good, because I thought this would go nicely with your dragon.” Lopez showed Arthur a thick stack of deep purple tags. The color did pair nicely with the flashes of iridescent purple up and down Brixaby’s dark scales.

Brixaby snorted and turned his head toward the direction where the Lightning Cats and other fast-moving groups had gone. Some of the Lightning Cats had gone down onto four feet in order to lope forward, which had been more than a little disturbing to watch. By now, they were distant dots along the horizon.

Lopez continued, "There still might be a little time before the dark heart is opened. If you can find any more of these nests for us in the future, I'm sure you'd be well compensated."

It was times like this that Arthur wondered if he was the crazy one for thinking cutting things so close was a stupid idea. Brixaby was looking excited at the prospect of eradicating more scourgelings hideouts... but then again, he was a dragon.

To Arthur, these Texans were playing with fire.

Still, there was only one answer he could give. "Of course," he said, stiffly. "I don’t even want to think about what it will be like if one of these nests goes unchecked." He couldn’t stop from adding, "I think you and the rest of the city administration are taking this too lightly."

Lopez shrugged again. "Well, you haven't seen our adventuring groups in action, have you?"

That was fair. He hadn't. Grabbing the tags in bad humor, he threw them into his personal space. With a smile, Lopez tipped his hat and went on to speak with his deputies.

"Cheer up, we're going to be killing scourgelings soon," Brixaby said. "And if this nest proves to be particularly virulent, perhaps we can ring more concessions from Walker. Plus,” he added, "This will raise our popularity with the rest of the city, which means Dannell might pay us more, too."

That did cheer him up, a little. But the feeling of duty he had the moment he saw scourgelings bubbling up from the ground so close to the city had a weight which had landed fully on his shoulders. Maybe it was a side-affect from being a half-trained hive leader, but this… none of this felt good.

"Excuse me, young man?" Arthur glanced over and saw that an older man had approached him. He was a bit unusual looking in the normal Texan population, being tall and thin with hair that was either so blonde it looked white in the blazing sun, or so gray that it had turned white. His eyes were the pale type of blue that almost looked silver, and it was almost impossible to tell his exact age. "May I ask how big the nest is? And what is the distribution of ranks you saw?"

No one else had bothered to ask. They’d just wanted to be pointed in the right direction.

"I only saw Commons and Uncommons — perhaps three dozen or so. But my seeking ability told me that's the spot where the Rares are hiding, too."

"I see, I see." With a nod, the man reached into a leather bag tied to his belt and started pulling out long pieces of pipe work with complex metal connections forged onto them. The absurd length of the pipes versus the smaller bag made it clear that this was a portable storage space. Though, Arthur didn't see any runes around the bag.

Then, without comment, the man bent and started connecting the pipes in a way that made no immediate sense.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Brixaby tilted his head almost to the side to watch, oddly birdlike. "What are you doing?"

The man blinked up at them, then smiled as if he had just momentarily forgotten that they were there. "I'm afraid that while my cards are powerful, they do take a bit of prep time."

Then, to Arthur's shock, he gestured from his chest outward and displayed the images of two cards in his heart deck.

Maniac Kludger

Utility

Uncommon

The wielder of this card has a uncanny instinctive ability to join different machinery together to form an upgraded or new machine, tool, or part. The wielder has a 50% greater chance of having their creation work correctly the first time… even if it bends known physical laws. Seek additional cards in this set to add to overall inventive power.