Urbane Wayfarer Prologue Chapter 1

Chapter One, Prologue: Urbane Wayfarer

Trent POV

I’ve been trekking across the desert for about a few days now. People think that I’m mad to out across the desert on my own, thinking that I’ll either die of dehydration or by a predator trying to make me its next meal. But I was trained to prepare for any type of situation during every venture I make. For years, I’ve been traveling on my own, going from place to place, and never staying too long. Even the small town I’m visiting now is just like the others I’ve been to; just a small dot on a map that pays little mind to outsiders unless they cause trouble.

I hardly paid attention to the people bustling around the shops & the streets while the rest just focusing on their own business. I only came just to stay the night and replenish my supplies. Everywhere I look, there are Humans & Anthros tending to the shops along with the local bar where I hear music & other voices coming from inside. I know what you’re thinking; why are both species co-existing in civilization? Well the truth is, I really don’t know & I honestly don’t really care. All I know is that we’ve always co-existed with each other & we’ve all lived our lives accordingly.

Another thing I kept hearing is that, Humans & Anthros are free to “socialize” as long as they do not “consummate”; the latter isn’t exactly “forbidden”, more like it’s heavily frowned upon. It’s not known if there are any children born from a union between two parents that are of different species although because of the rumors that couples would be shunned from society from such an act, nobody knows. As weird as I find all of this interspecies stuff, what they do in private is honestly none of my business. Right now, all I care about is finding a place to stay for the night since the sun’s disappearing fast beneath the horizon…& nobody wants to be out on the streets alone at dark, especially with bandits & slavers patrolling the streets on the cold nights. I’m even ignoring a couple Anthro prostitutes at the street corner while they were flashing me a sensual grin on their faces.

Finally finding a nearby hotel, I glance at a nearby Slate Vulpen & I immediately get flashbacks of an old friend I knew when I was a child; a Marbled Vulpen named Vivian Reiser. She and her family lived in Skulk Village up on a mountain around the Northern Polar Regions. I remember my parents used to take me there once when they needed to stay for a while to replenish their supplies & rest until they were ready to go on their own adventure. Amongst the hunters & scouts that made up most of the villagers, Vivian was among the first to talk to me personally. She isn’t what I would call the “shy type”, although it looked like it took a lot of effort for her to muster the courage to speak to me since it’s quite obvious that Skulk Village doesn’t get a lot of human visitors.

Although we were originally planning to stay there for about a couple weeks, a sudden snowstorm forced us to stay at the village for a little over a month, give or take. But despite our predicament, it was enough time for Vivian to show me around the village & explain to me what it was like here; how they hunted, how they fought, how they survived, how they pretty much did everything. Of course it always puts a smile on my face every time I remember us playing; throwing snowballs at each other, pretending we were ancient warriors from old legends, or even when we played hide-and-seek. As cliché as it sounded, she had always talked about seeing what was beyond the horizon. I tried my best to explain it to her, but because I was born in some major city somewhere far to the southeast of the village, my knowledge of such was very limited at the time. Even now, I still didn’t even remember where the city I was born at was located when she asked me; I told her that all I knew was that it was a major seaport for that region on the Eastern Coast.

Despite the harsh cold & the terrible weather we experienced at the village, I never wanted to leave; Vivian was my first real friend & was almost like the sister I never had. She even begged the parents from both our families to let me stay for at least one more week so we could continue to spend some more time together. But sadly there was nothing we could do; my parents & I had to keep going to our next destination while she had to stay & help out her family in the village. I’ll never forget her face even though I last saw her when we were kids; I have no idea what she looks like 15 years older. Brushing my thoughts aside, I walked in the hotel & purchased a room for the night. The manager gave me the key to a room no more than two floors up. It wasn’t the best room I’ve ever been in, but it’s not the worst either; at least it’s clean & tidy.

After taking a warm bath and falling asleep, I woke up the next morning to see the town exactly as I remembered it last evening: bustling with civilians of both species minding their own business & carrying on with their day. Getting dressed in fresh clothes from my bag I always carry, I walked out onto the streets, browsing through the wares in the shops to see what I needed before I leave for my next stop. Unfortunately my shopping was interrupted when I heard screams outside. Curiously yet cautiously poking my head out the door, I rolled my eyes when I noticed a group of bandits riding on their horses terrorizing a group of civilians outside the bar. Clutching my bag, making sure it was still with me, I watched as the bandits try to extort a shop owner for his money as he protested. I looked around wondering if there were any law enforcement in this town, but I grumbled as soon as I realized it’ll take some time for them to do anything, so somebody’s got to save the townsfolks’ skins.

“Now put your coins in this here bag, nice & quick!” I heard one of the bandits speak in the typical accent common in this area of the country. I quickly pulled out one of my revolvers from my holster, triple-checking to see if it was loaded, before I fired a shot at the bandit. I obviously missed on purpose since I didn’t intend to kill yet, though I had to get their attention somehow. Next thing I knew, I was quickly running into the alleyways & climbing to the roof of behind the shop as the rest of the bandits came scrambling over. “Where’d he go?” One bandit asked. “He was over here!” I heard another yell. As I predicted, they decided to split up, hoping to cover more ground.

One of the first things about getting into a situation like this, as I was taught, was to pick off one enemy at a time without being seen or heard while planning ahead on where & when to pick your targets. I stayed out of their line-of-sight until I knew it was safe to climb down. The closest one was a Bos twice my size, but I’ve faced against thugs bigger than him. However, I remembered my mentor always telling me to not get overconfident while keeping a cool head. I managed to quickly pistol whip him to knock him unconscious before I towed him back into the alley, though doing so wasn’t so easy due to his weight but I still managed, while helping myself to anything of value he carried including the money he lifted from the shop keeper. I quietly moved & hopped into an empty barrel before another bandit stopped to look around. I managed to surprise him by wrapping my arm around his throat, covering his mouth with my other hand as I dragged him into the alley while waiting for him to pass out. Two down, four to go.

Unfortunately I realized that, after coming around, I’ve hit a snag; two bandits were together here knowing that it’s wiser to have backup; they’re a bit smarter than I thought so I’ll give them that. This means I’m left with little choice but to kill them…while knowing that using stealth was the best strategy. I hid behind a horse trough nearby & saw them stop and look inside a few buildings as they carried their rifles while asking each other if they’ve found me yet. Pulling out my knives that I’ve acquired overseas to the east, I timed my attack & then made my mark, hitting one in the neck & the other in the head, almost exactly at the same time. I quickly rushed over to the other side of the street & pulled the bodies into the alleyway before the rest could catch up. Four bandits down, and only two more of them left.

Looting what I could find off of the two fallen bandits, I could hear the last two calling out their fallen accomplices. I didn’t care what their names were as long as they either ended up in a jail cell or the end of a rope. Hiding behind the wall of a building, I pulled out my revolvers and jumped out onto the middle of the street. “There he is!!” The bandit leader yelled as he pulled out his handgun. I shot at him first, hitting him non-fatally in the shoulder before I rolled behind a building as cover to avoid his shots. “Show yourself, you coward!!” The bandit leader yelled while he clutched his wound. Almost on cue, I pulled out & shot down his partner, causing him to fall off his horse. Almost as fast as lightning, I threw one of the knives I retrieved from another accomplice and threw it at the bandit leader, scoring a hit on his arm & having him drop his handgun as he screamed in agony.

After the deputies finally showed up, which took them long enough considering that I did all of the hard work, I managed to finally get some of the supplies I wanted after I returned the loot to the shop owner. Unfortunately I couldn’t get all that I needed, since the deputies wanted to ask me a few questions as soon as they got the surviving bandits into their paddywagon. Fortunately I saw a way out as they were rounding up the dead bodies of the other bandits and I decided to leave the town behind. “Wait, sir!” One of the townsfolk called out to me. “We didn’t get your name!” “You don’t need to know my name.” I tried to explain to him. “But what do we call you?” The townsperson asked me. I thought for a moment before I gave him a simple reply. “You can call me…Urbane Wayfarer.” I heard the crowds cheering my “name” as I left the town with my bag restocked with the supplies that I needed onward towards my next destination.