Sen left the garoush’ body where it lay. He could come back for it in the morning, when he could actually see without using magical light. He thought back to the wildly changing display of colors that had appeared when he cast light earlier.

  He needed to get a handle on that, as soon as possible. He didn’t like one of the few spells at his disposal sitting beyond his ability to control.

  He set off through the forest, conjured light beaming from a new paper scroll in his hand. Idly, he wondered why he found the spell so hard to control.

  It was as if all his skill with the spell had been reset entirely. When he first learned how to cast light, during his first few weeks as an apprentice under Amery, he had experienced similar difficulties. Hopefully it wouldn’t take him nearly as long to get the spell back under control.

  He shivered at the thought - it had taken him several hours a day, for multiple days, dedicated to the spell to keep a steady, unchanging light.

  He was having no luck at the moment, the spell working but veering wildly out of his control. The forest around him jumped between blue highlights and red shadows, then faded to green before moving on to another whimsical color. Hopefully, nothing would come to investigate. Sen wanted to go home and sleep.

  He returned to Shiren soon enough, letting go of the light spell when he found an area he recognized. It would be annoying to deal with anyone asking about his magic, and the moon had come out from behind its earlier cloud. He stepped out of the forest a short few minutes later, and where the trees thinned, Sen heard a cry as two guards carrying small gem-lanterns on their belts pointed toward him. A pair of guards ran up to him as he continued walking toward Shiren.

  “Tane! What are you doing out here?” one of them asked. “Is that blood?”

  Sen looked between the two, then down at himself. “Is everything alright?”

  “That’s what we should be asking you,” one of the guards said, eyeing his blood-stained clothes. “What happened?”

  Sen looked down. He hadn’t noticed it before, but his clothes were indeed stained with blood. Sen shrugged at the guards. “I went hunting.”

  “Hunting?”

  “Hunting the garoush,” he clarified.

  The two looked at each other, then toward Sen. “That’s not funny, son,” the second guard said, rebuke in his tone.

  Another wave of exhaustion rolled over him. Sen just shrugged toward the man. “I’m really tired,” he said. “Is there something you need from me, or can I go home?”

  “What were you doing out here?” The second guard asked.

  “Hunting, like I said,” Sen insisted.

  The guard opened his mouth to speak again, but his jaw worked and no words came out. Sighing, he turned. “Come on,” he finally said. “We should report this to the captain.”

  Sen yawned once more. “Is there any way this can wait until morning?”

  “Boren,” the guardsman looked to his partner, gesturing. The other man nodded, then walked behind Sen and grabbed his arm forcefully.

  “Come on,” he growled, then started to pull him toward Shiren.

  “Are— What are you doing?”

  “We’re taking you to the captain. You can explain yourself to him.”

  “Because I was in the forest?”

  The guard sighed. “In the forest, at night, claiming to hunt a monster that would kill you with ease. And, the same day that mage Murdin was injured,” he said, staring forward.

  “Okay,” Sen admitted. “I see your point. That all does sound odd.”

  “So why were you actually out here, tonight?”

  Sen let out a long breath. “I already told you.”

  “We’ll leave it for the captain, then. He’ll get it out of you, I’m sure.”

  They passed the gates into town, where a number of other guardsmen stared as Sen was marched through. Boren stood behind him, pushing him along, but thankfully without any force. Sen had made no move to escape.

  There wasn’t much point to running away, galling though it was to be under suspicion for nothing. He wondered what had prompted all of this. It seemed too much for someone who went hunting at night, strange though that sounded.

  Tane had a small understanding of the world around him, mostly filled with the minor information that one picked up over the course of a life. That meant that, while he knew about what existed in this world, Tane - and thus, now, Sen - didn’t have a great understanding of any of the bigger pictures in this world.

  Things such as other cities and how Shiren associated with them politically, or how the various temples interacted with one another. Whether the kingdom that Shiren belonged to taxed it heavily, or attained its due in some other way. How the gods - known to take an active part in the world - changed the way everyone lived their lives.

  Had Sen stumbled into something he had no knowledge about? That seemed to be the most likely scenario, though he couldn’t imagine what. If it left the guards on edge enough to interrogate him…

  His thoughts were interrupted as they neared the guard’s headquarters. The large, squat building, like so many other parts of Shiren, was made of dark stone. The moonlight above shone down and gave the building a bright cast, making it surprisingly easy to see. In fact, he realized most of the buildings throughout the town were easier to see than they should be, all of them illuminated by the reflected moonlight above, and - not quite - but nearly glowing.

  That must be an enchantment, he thought as the two guards ushered him inside. They led him to a small chamber and sat him down, then tied his arms to the chair he sat in. They left him there for a while, which annoyed Sen at first. Then he must have fallen asleep, because the next thing he knew, the door had opened and a large man dressed in slightly more formal guardsman leathers entered.

  Jubei, the guard captain. He was well known throughout the town, and Tane had always thought this man had been the one responsible for defending Shiren from monsters, until he began his apprenticeship with Murdin. The man had a build for combat - tall and wide, he looked like he could crush a small boulder in his hands.

  “Tane,” he said, sitting down. He dwarfed the chair beneath him. “Care to explain what you were doing outside so late at night?”

  “I went hunting,” Sen said, still out of it from his impromptu nap.

  “Hunting?”

  “The garoush. I didn’t want to risk it attacking somewhere before the mayor’s hunting group could track it down and get rid of it. It was also my mistake that left Murdin injured, so I felt responsible for it.”

  The man quirked at eyebrow at him. “Surely you understand that seems unlikely, don’t you? You might be Murdin’s apprentice, but I hear you’ve only been an apprentice for about a week? Is that right?”

  “Yes,” Sen yawned, struggling to hold it back.

  “You expect me to believe you hunted a garoush, yourself, when you’ve only been an apprentice for a week? Journeyman mage’s aren’t considered ready to hunt those things.

  Sen shrugged. “It was injured. Murdin and I managed to give it a few good lumps before it ran away.” Sen also had magic much easier to use. That had helped a lot, now that he thought about it.

  “I see,” he said, tone clearly showing his disbelief. “What were you actually doing out this late at night?”

  “I’ll lead you to the corpse,” Sen said tiredly. “In the morning, or right now if you have lights for the journey.”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Jubei looked at him with unease. Without saying any more, he stood and left the room. Sen napped some more, with nothing to do other than struggle against the stiffness in his arms and the bonds holding him tight. He could probably get out, if he wanted, but that would probably get him attacked.

  The door opened again, eventually. The mayor stepped inside, a sharp look toward Jubei, who stood behind her. “What is the meaning of this?”

  “We found him acting suspicious just outside the gates. He claims to have hunted the garoush all alone, in the middle of the night, as a freshly minted apprentice. Not only that, you can clearly see bloodstains all over him.”

  “As I said, I can lead you to the monster’s corpse,” Sen said.

  “The— you actually managed to kill it?” Mayor Metra asked him. Her eyes pierced into him, looking for some sign of dishonesty. Sen nodded back at her.

  “What do you think all of this blood is from?” Sen asked no one in particular.

  Jubei humphed, but said nothing. The mayor sighed and turned to the guard captain. “That is monster blood. Well? Get a group together. Find this corpse. If it doesn’t exist, then your investigation continues.”

  “And if it does?”

  “Then at least one of our worries is no longer a problem,” she said.

  The mayor stepped out, and Jubei called someone from outside. A face Sen recognized, a friend of his family, Abren, stepped inside. He undid the ropes holding Sen with a quick hand. “Sorry about all this,” he said to Sen. “Some odd stuff happening lately, and you just got unlucky enough to be caught up in it.”

  “Guess it’s on me,” Sen said lightly. “Next time, I won’t go killing a major threat to the city.”

  “Shouldn’t have done that anyway, even if you actually managed to kill it,” Abren said. “Could’a got yourself killed, and then what’d your family do?” Abren gave him a light tap on the head, admonishing but not painful.

  Abren led him out of the building once more, where a handful of other guards gawked or looked at him suspiciously in the light of the morning.

  He hadn’t realized killing the garoush would stir up so many problems. Looking back on it, he wasn’t sure he could have known. Tane just didn’t have the experience or knowledge of the local world to have that level of understanding, even with Sen’s greater experience. Or maybe he’d just gotten incredibly unlucky to be caught up in something he couldn’t have anticipated.

  Outside, mayor Metra, guard captain Jubei, and a handful of additional guards stood waiting.

  “Alright, Tane,” Jubei said. “Lead on.”

  Sighing, Sen walked forward, trying to remember exactly where the monster was. Maybe it would be easier to start from where he and Murdin had been attacked again.

  It took a bit less than an hour to find the thing again, with a couple suspicious questions from Jubei when he turned directions after finding the blood trail. “It was dark last night, and I don’t know exactly where it was. This is what I did to find it lsat night.”

  The creature itself still had his spear rammed deep into its eye. He had expected to never need the spear again, or he would simply reclaim it when he came back to retrieve the body - or take any choice parts from it, at least. He just hadn’t expected it to be with an entourage who doubted him at every step of the way. Actually, he’d forgotten about the other spear that still sat embedded deep in the creature’s shoulder, as well.

  A couple of gasps escaped the accompanying guardsmen as they entered the area and saw the huge creature fallen on the dirt and leaves of the forest floor. Blood covered the area, far more than Sen had noticed the night before. It was a miracle he wasn’t covered head to toe in the stuff. Maybe the blood had continued leaking all through the night?

  “There it is,” Sen said, sighing. “Satisfied?”

  The mayor stepped forward, inspecting the creature. “You actually managed to kill it,” she said, voice impressed. “As an apprentice, no less,” she continued, voice low. “That is no small feat.”

  Jubei grunted. He pulled the spear out, cursing as he accidentally spread viscera all over the ground. Some of it splashed onto his clothes, and he grimaced at the sight. He turned, then gestured to his men. “Get to it,” he barked. They ran forward, pulling out knives, and began to skin the creature before stripping it for parts.

  Sen didn’t know exactly what it would be useful for, but monsters always provided solid materials for something. Apparently. Murdin hadn’t covered any uses for monster materials yet, but they had been touched on in some of the books he’d been reading. Bones could be used for knife handles, or even as building materials. Feathers could make wonderfully soft beds. The furs of a creature like this might make multiple cloaks, or a gigantic rug.

  “Hey, that’s my kill,” Sen protested.

  Metra turned to him. “I’ll ensure you are properly remunerated for your efforts. But… How did you do this? A garoush is not simple prey. And at night…”

  Sen ran through his preparations quickly, although he decided to leave out his other magical preparations. The scroll trap counted for a significant part of his advantage against the creature, but he could hand wave that disparity by simply saying it had been more injured than he realized. The crux of his ‘argument’ against suspicion already focused on that point, anyway.

  It was a bit exhausting to tiptoe around his magic so much, but he couldn’t help but feel that revealing it would do more harm than good. Especially now, when simply killing a threat to the town could accidentally leave him under suspicions of… something.

  The mayor shook her head when he was done. “An apprentice for only a week or so, and already coming up with new enchantments to use for hunting.” She shook her head in appreciation. “I look forward to see where you end up in the future, Tane. Listen to Murdin. He’s a great mage, and he’ll make you even better, I’m sure.”

  She referred to the light enchantments he had added to the spear. Apparently, that was a new way to use those glyph spells. It had certainly been helpful, but he wasn’t sure if he could consider it revolutionary. He thanked her anyway.

  Jubei listened from afar as he told his story to the mayor, but approached after Sen finished. “I apologize for my suspicions of you, Tane. I hope you can understand that I only mean the best for the village.”

  Sen nodded. “I can’t say I understand what exactly gives you all these suspicions,” Sen said, “but I accept. Thank you for the apology.”

  From there, the morning went by quickly. The guardsmen finished gutting the garoush, occasionally muttering about how ridiculous it was that Tane, of all people had killed it. They gathered as many valuables as they could, but only about half the creature had been dealt with when it was determined they would need to make a second, and possibly a third trip to finish the harvest.

  Sen didn’t speak much after his talk with Metra and Jubei. They hadn’t spoken much, either, simply observing the work until it finished. It seemed a waste of time for both the captain and mayor to stick around, but he didn’t comment.

  They all arrived back in town before much longer, and everyone split off in their own direction. The guardsmen and Jubei, to wherever they needed to take all the creature’s materials. Metra, back to her home.

  It felt anticlimactic to find himself suddenly free of all suspicion. Sighing, Sen turned toward home, where he crashed and slept for the remainder of the morning, until a gaping maw that ripped open the sky and scooped Sen from the ground and ate him alive woke him from his slumber.

  Rubbing his eyes, he decided to go and visit Murdin. He doubted he’d be able to get back to sleep anytime soon.

  He set off along the roads, when the sudden smell of fresh bread assailed him. Suddenly, he realized he hadn’t eaten in over a day. He stopped to grab a small loaf of fresh bread, picking at it as he walked. The baker girl smiled at him, and he smiled back.

  The surgeon’s - Home? Clinic? - sat nestled in the dappled shade of a large tree. Its branches reached high up into the sky, canopy thin and swaying under the slight wind of the day. Sen knocked on the door, and the same woman who had helped retrieve Murdin after the attack greeted him.

  She smiled at him. “Hello, Tane,” she said. “Come to see Murdin?” He nodded back, and she led him down a hallway, then toward a simple room where Murdin rested.

  “A visitor for you,” the nurse said.

  Murdin looked up from the bed, grunted, then laboriously sat up. He looked in pain, and the nurse tutted. “I told you, no moving for at least another couple days.”

  “Oh, bugger off. I’ve lived through worse injuries, I’ll continue to live through worse injuries,” he said, but let himself fall back onto the bed when she glared at him. “I thank you for your concern, though.”

  She huffed, but left them to talk after a moment to make sure Murdin hadn’t re-injured himself.

  Murdin spoke first. “I heard you went hunting.”

  “Yeah,” was all Sen said in response.

  “You’re still around, so I assume you finished it off. Doesn’t look like any real injuries, either. None of that blood is yours.”

  Sen looked down at himself. He’d forgotten to change while he was at home. He winced at the realization he’d almost certainly gotten monster blood on his bed. He’d probably hear about that from his mother the next time he saw her. “How can you tell?”

  “Monster blood is darker than normal blood. Hard to tell if you haven’t seen much of either, but I’ve seen more than enough.”

  “Even when it dries?”

  “Especially when it dries. Look at yourself. You look like a shadow.” Sen looked down, and realized he was right. The dried blood on his clothes seemed to eat the light.

  “I didn’t know that,” Sen said, surprise clear in his tone.

  Murdin snorted. “Don’t sound so shocked, kid. You’re barely an apprentice. You’re not expected to know everything, not yet. Although, you’re also not expected to singlehandedly kill monsters like a garoush, either, but here we are.”

  Sen shrugged. “It was already injured.”

  Murdin narrowed his eyes at him. “Maybe,” he said. “But I don’t think that’s all there is to it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t play the fool with me, boy. I saw that fire fly from your hand before it ran off.”

  “Oh.”

  “Oh, he says,” Murdin chuckled. “Oh.” He chuckled again, then coughed. Then winced. “Care to explain yourself?”

  “And if I don’t care?”

  Murdin sighed at that. “Then I suppose I don’t need an apprentice after all.”

  The two of them were quiet for a while. The light chirping of birds occasionally broke the heavy silence that fell over the room.

  “I’ll tell you,” Sen said. He looked around. “But not here.”

  Murdin raised an eyebrow, but agreed. “Ok. They’ll let me leave tomorrow, so long as I assure them I won’t be doing anything too strenuous. Tomorrow morning,” Murdin said with finality. “Take the day off. You look like you need some.

  Sen nodded. “Tomorrow, then.” He’d probably need the day to clean the blood stains out.