As we arrived at the porch, I nodded towards Bahruun and Millid. “Let's get the quick thing out of the way first. Faye, you already know Bahruun, and this is Millid, Bahruun’s familiar.” Millid gave Faye a cheery wave and friendly smile. “Millid here is a Sand Devil, and their kin has an instinctual need to dig. So I figured, rather than have Millid here dig up the entire forest or drown in the swamp... Faye nodded as she understood what I was getting at.

  “I get it, you were thinking of having the lil thing help by plowing the fields.” Faye eyed Millid for a bit. “Alright then, I don’t see a reason to say no. I’ll even throw in some free meals and pay-” Millid began to shake her head. Faye paused and looked at her, confused as and Millid began to explain. “No payments, Boss, and I am already receiving payment from Morgana from our employment contract with her, and Hall rules state we can’t earn money on the side while on a job, and I don’t want to get Boss in trouble. I won’t say no to food though.” Millid looked up at Bahruun and snuggled into his side.

  Faye remained quiet for a moment before nodding. “Alright then. If you would follow me, Millid, I will get you situated immediately. Besides, I am sure Bahruun and Morgana have other things to discuss.” Faye glanced over at the box. Millid gave it a curious look. Soot flew from my shoulder and landed on the box. “Wouldn’t mess with this thing, nasty piece of work inside.”

  Bahruun got to his feet and walked over to the box and glanced inside, then recoiled in horror. “What… Who would be crazy enough to make something like this?” He looked from me to Soot and back again. “No idea, but it somehow found its way into a Barghest’s stomach. Which means it’s unlikely it started out in that form. I will be tracking down whoever made it, as an attack on the farm is an attack on me.”

  Bahruun nodded. “We can’t let this be, the use of forbidden runes with obvious malicious intent at that. With your permission, Lady Morgana, I’ll begin a tracking ritual the moment we get back to the house.” I gave a single nod. “I’d appreciate it, It’s easier for you to track magic, after all.”

  Meleri, who until now was simply watching from the side got up and gave the thing in the box a curious look. “So what does this thing actually do?” As she asked, Ivy flew over and landed on her head. “Those particular runes in combination are bad news. It’s to where their use has been outlawed by the local courts. You know things are bad when Her Highness thinks it’s too horrible to use.”

  Bahruun cleared his throat. “Those three runes, in that configuration create an item that siphons the life force and magic of a target, killing them in a slow and excruciating manner. For obvious reasons, it’s been outlawed in every civil land for a long time, and the punishment for its use is… severe to say the least.” Bahruun looked at the box and shook his head. “Why anyone would be crazy enough to use them is beyond me. What worries me more, however, is that the Barghest consumed it.”

  I nodded. “Barghests are not so consumed by hunger as to just chow down on obviously cursed objects. Heck, even Wargs have a strong enough sense of self preservation to avoid obviously harmful actions.” The door opened, and Alder stepped onto the porch. “Why hello Lady Morgana, how nice to see you. And the rest of you as well.” His eyes fell on Bahruun. “Bahruun, long time no see. Doing well, I hope?” Bahruun leaned against the porch railing. “As well as I can be, though I wish to apologize for my conduct last time. It was… unbecoming of me.”

  Alder just waved him off. “That’s water under the bridge. Besides you paid your dues in the end. Now, that being said, what’s this talk about runes?” After I explained the situation to him, and his smile faded. “Hmm, another cursed item. Surely it’s not…” His voice drifted off as he looked towards the fields, where Faye and Allen were approaching, along with their eldest son, Brom, and his wife Alvina.

  Brom was large for a Faun, standing over two meters tall and built like a brick house from years of hard labor and with a large bushy beard and large eyebrows above his deep-set brown eyes, giving him an intimidating appearance. Despite this, he was as gentle as could be, the epitome of a gentle giant.

  Alvina was also quite tall with a lithe build and long flowing auburn hair that reached down to her hooves and short horns that barely poked out of her large mane of hair. Her freckled face was long and thin, and her green eyes shone with an inner light that reflected the inquisitive and sharp mind behind them. Despite looking frail, she was more robust than you’d think and could make even the most foulmouthed sailor blush if she got mad. It went without saying that I liked her.

  Allen hopped up on the porch and looked into the crate without a word. He then looked over at me. “Can you track the source?” I shook my head, and his expression dropped. “Bahruun can, and has already volunteered for it once we get back home.” As Alvina got a look at the orb, she began to utter a stream of curses under her breath. “That’s a nasty piece of shite, innit?” Brom embraced her from behind. “Language, my little turtledove.” His deep voice caused her to turn and look up at him, and soon the two were lost in their own little world.

  Allen nodded. “If… if it…” His voice trailed off, and I gave his shoulder a pat. “I will inform you if the source turns out to be from Mendir.” Allen gave a sullen nod. “… Thanks.” “Don’t mention it. We will get to it as soon as Millid gets back, it feels wrong to leave while she is still busy and without telling her.” Allen nodded quietly.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  It took about an hour before Millid came back. Once Millid clambered back onto the porch, Bahruun reached down and put Millid on his lap. “So how was the soil?” Millid perked up. “It was great, there wasn’t much to dig today since they were already almost done, but they want me to come back next week, if that’s fine with you two?” I leaned down and ruffled Millid’s spiky hair. “Sure thing. I don’t mind at all, and I doubt Bahruun would say no either.” He leaned down and gave Millid a peck on the cheek. “I don’t mind either.”

  I hopped off the porch. “Well then, we really need to get going. I take it Ivy is over in the orchard?” Soot looked around. “Seems like it. She went together with Meleri once we left for Milnair’s earlier.” At the mention of Milnair, I could hear a low growl from Midnight at my feet.

  Well, that made sense, Meleri was likely looking for fresh fruit for her cooking. “Alright then… And Tobin?” Allen nudged his head toward the orchard as well. “He wanted to see what fruits he could use to brew with, as he seemed quite interested in the citrine fruits. Citrine wine? Was that even possible? Hmm, Meleri would know more than me in that regard since she was an educated chef and all that.

  Well, that made things easier. “As much as I dislike being abrupt with my visit, finding the origin of that thing has priority, so I will have to cut the visit short.” I nodded towards the box with the orb. Allen nodded. “That’s fair, keep me informed if you find anything.” I pulled out the carpet. “Will do.” I set it to hover and then made a shrill whistle. Winter would know what that meant if she were within earshot.

  A few moments later, she landed on my hat. “Are we leaving already?” I reached up and scratched her lovingly. “Yeah, because of that.” I pointed towards the box that Bahruun was now holding as he and Millid hopped onto the carpet. We got onto the carpet and I began to fly towards the massive orchard that covered the western part of the farm.

  Trees upon trees laden with fruit in various stages of ripening. Fauns and humans were hustling around underneath, picking fruits and maintaining branches. Some of them were obviously Allen and Faye’s family members, but they were employing numerous people from Nekkal. There was no way their family could handle all this on their own, after all. In the first few decades, sure, but there was a limit to how much they could handle once their fields and orchard grew large enough.

  It didn’t take long to find what we were looking for as the three of them were standing in one of the artificial clearings they used to hold all the barrels of produce. They were speaking with someone. As I lowered the carpet, I recognized the white hair of Myrtle. “Hello down there.” I brought the carpet down near them.

  Myrtle gave me a friendly wave. “Hiya, Morgana, how’s it going?” Myrtle grinned happily as we slowly hovered over to them. “Oh, just fine. Unfortunately, something came up, so we have to cut the visit short.” I looked towards Ivy, Meleri and Tobin. “That means that unless the three of you want to make your way back on your lonesome, you'll have to hop on now.”

  Meleri looked confused. “What’s so important that we have to cut the visit short?” I dragged the crate over and showed her the contents. The quartet recoiled as they sensed the magic from the sphere. “We need to conduct a ritual to find out where this thing was made, and we can’t do so here.” Myrtle looked at the thing with open disdain written all over her face. “Where did you pick this thing up?”

  I took a deep breath. “Let’s just say the Barghest your newest Shepherd has isn’t sick anymore.” Myrtle’s face turned a pale shade of green. “Oh, the poor thing, I’ll make sure he gets an extra nice dinner tonight.” Myrtle always loved animals, so much so that she was usually in charge of them alongside her father.

  “That’s kind of you Myrtle. I’m sure he will appreciate it.” She nodded. “At any rate, we should get going, so I need your choice you three.” Tobin scratched his chin. “I think I’ll be staying, Myrtle’s already invited me for dinner and it would be awfully rude to leave when I already accepted.” I turned my gaze to Ivy, who flew over and landed on Soot’s back, hugging him. Then finally on Meleri. She thought about it for a moment. “Hmm, I’ll stay awhile still as well, sis, I can fly back on my own.” I gave her a nod. “Alright then, just don’t stay out too late, or you’ll miss out on dinner.”

  She waved me off. “Yeah, yeah. See you all later.” I waved back as I got the carpet back in the air, then sped off towards home. Bahruun and I would be busy with tracking the origin of that damnable orb. Bahruun looked into the crate, he was holding it as we flew to make sure the orb didn’t fall out. “I am more worried about how the Barghest consumed this thing.” He gazed down at the orb his white glowing eyes turning slightly gray due to his dour mood.

  After a moment of silence, I glanced back at Bahruun. “I doubt it was like that to begin with, it might have been smaller, much smaller.” Bahruun looked down at the orb. “Hmm, that would make sense. On another note, do you have any ideas on who would do such a thing?”

  I took a deep breath. “Unfortunately, I do. This isn’t the first time a curse has befallen the fauns of Appleridge.” Bahruun’s face turned serious. “You suspect it’s the same culprit?” Soot hopped down from my shoulder. “The last time Faye’s father put a curse on an amulet he gave Allen, it was nasty enough that it almost cost both him and Faye their lives.” Bahruun looked shocked, and I couldn’t blame him.

  “Well, I guess we will find out soon enough who the culprit is.” I glanced back at him and tightened my grip on the carpet. “That was the general idea.” That anyone had the gall to mess with Appleridge was making my blood boil. Those were my friends they were trying to kill, and when I found the culprit, they would learn the hard way that no one who tried to kill my friends would get away with it.

  As we landed on the porch, I waited for the others to hop off. “Soot, take Bahruun to the ritual altar, I’ll fetch the items we need.” Soot recognized I was in ‘all business’ mode and flew over to Bahruun and landed on his shoulder. “On it.” I hurried into the potion room and grabbed the tome on rituals and began looking up what I needed. A few minutes later, I was back out the door with the materials trailing behind me via magic. Whoever created that orb was going to have a really, really, REALLY bad day once I got my claws on them.