LOREN
Although Loren should’ve predicted that his family would leave him in the lurch even when they weren’t there, he hadn’t expected it to be quite this bad. The Launceleyn Manor needed repairs, cleaning, and a whole lot of food. Granted, part of that was his own fault: he’d foolishly opened the doors of the house to anyone who might need shelter from the cold and the monsters during LongNight. Although that tall warrior woman had informed everyone that it was the designated safe spot, no one had exactly taken him up on the offer. Or at least they hadn’t yet, and he wanted to be prepared anyway.So he’d set off on a series of tasks to make it habitable. Today, he was on his way out to the fields to see if he could secure some foodstuffs other than meat. While most of the harvest was already completed this late in Leafchange—it was shocking to him how useful his knowledge from his time as a farmer was proving—people were still out in the fields gathering the late blooming crops and gleaning what remained on the fields from the earlier harvest.
He had just arrived at the edge of the farmlands when there was a sharp pain in his ankle; he yelped, and instinctively kicked back. His foot connected with something squishy and sent it flying. Whirling around, Loren was just in time to see a squash go flying into the air. He was confused, until he saw the circle of gourds closing in on him. That’s when he remembered that the vampire gourds liked to come out to hunt during Leafchange.
Unfortunately for them, Loren wasn’t prey. He’d learned from his previous mistakes, however, and wasn’t going to use fire that could spread to his surroundings. Instead, he would call upon something that could protect him without causing too much damage to the environment. Calling upon the power that was uniquely his, Loren took a moment to center himself, before the energy flew out of him a rush. A sky blue light flashed in the air, and when it cleared, a vaguely reptilian creature with nine heads was in its place, standing next to Loren. It was a hydra, a creature of legend, and it immediately began chomping down on the grounds, its heads moving independently to strike all sides at once. Loren sagged against its flank, weakened from summoning and maintaining such a powerful monster.
A beggar's book
outworths
a noble's blood
