Chapter 11 – Bliss

I stared at the adorable little flower for over a minute. I asked it a few more times.

"Are you sure? You want to come with me? My journey might be dangerous at times."

Triiii!

With the same cheerful sound and smiling face, I knew there was no convincing her otherwise. I selected "Yes" on the prompt and smiled back at the happy little sunflower.

"I promise to treat you like my own family, little one. Do you have a name?"

Truuu!

I'm guessing that meant "no". The sound had more of a negative connotation. In fact, through our new bond, I was also getting the sensation that she had no name.

"Would you like a name?"

Triiii! Triiii!

The pure excitement and joy that her shrill voice gave was obvious. She wants a name. Now what should I call her? She's a Flowkra. She is a happy little yellow flower. She was currently climbing up onto my left shoulder, which made her look even cuter. How about...

"What about the name, Bliss?"

She didn't think long before her excitement overflowed. My new friend's name was Bliss.

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Monte the lizardman called out to his beastkin servants.

"Let's get outta here, quickly now! The dwarves haven't figured out what we pulled and I intend to keep it that way. Now hurry!"

Although lizardmen were commonly viewed as part of the beastkin race, it did not mean that they always got along. In fact, lizardmen would typically isolate themselves from others. On occasion, however, greed would cause them to "visit" the richest cities on Vando. The lizardmen were known both for strength and stealth. The most well-respected ancestor of the lizardmen race had been a hero from another world. He had been a true shadow master. He passed on everything he could to the race, wishing them good prosperity and security as a nation. That was over 200 years ago. The path of practicing shadow powers has still been an art practiced in the lizardmen kingdom. It was meant to be used to protect them. Monte and several others would use those entrusted abilities to pillage and steal.

Monte's trading partners had a bad reputation. Most of them were lizardmen, but there were a few from the other races too. There were greedy people of any nation and any race. That was Monte's motto. Currently, he had four beastkin slaves guiding the two carriages of "loot" out of the Dwarven Kingdom. What was stolen? Lot of metals and gold, for sure. One carriage was loaded down with it. The other carriage, however, had a cage with a few captured dwarves. Young dwarven boys and girls in their mid to late teens. As future crafters and blacksmiths, Monte was certain that these children would get him even more reward than all the gold in the first carriage. Monte would use a sleeping potion on the kids so they wouldn't make a sound. With the Shadow Teleport skill, Monte was able to cleanly move in and out of nearly any location undetected. Making a clean escape with the loot afterwards was always a tough challenge. He often used unknown trails and hidden exits to escape the mountains where the dwarves lived. He needed to head south-east for several days to avoid any detection from the dwarven defenses.

"If this goes smoothly, we'll be back to Lizala Kingdom within 8 days where we can meet my trading partners. This is where you 4 beastkin slaves can earn your freedom. Finish this job for me to receive your release."

Of course, Monte never intended on releasing these slaves. Even most of the beastkin likely realized. They knew too much about Monte's business. They would be released…from their lives when this was all done.

Of the four beastkin slaves, two were orange catkin, one was a black wolfkin, and the last was a white rabbitkin. All four were used for loading, unloading, and leading the horses. The wolfkin, Midnight, shivered as he heard Monte's words. He had no trouble seeing through the lizardman's false promise. He wisely kept his mouth shut to avoid any abuse from his captor. But he would wait for a chance. A chance to remove the slave collar that kept him captive. A chance to take off the head of his greedy captor, Monte, at the first chance he got. A light growling sound escaped Midnight's mouth for just a moment. He would have his justice.