These were the best draft animals in existence.
Period. Once you got past their gaunt looks they were truly majestic. But they were called Nightmares for a reason. Fortunately, they wouldn't make us hallucinate again. I was still unsure if it was because of Fang's skills in taming, the spirits, or if they simply started to trust us after we had fought the hellhounds together. Their stallion sure was friendly.
"Would you look at that, Sir Dioneras!" The dwarf smith yelled. We towed that large wagon back to his shop, and he packed everything that wasn't nailed down. He convinced the two adult equines to pull it for him, and they did it effortlessly as if it was empty.
"You got what you wanted," I noted as my wounds were treated.
"It's all thanks to you, Champions." He kept bowing his head. They had hellish strength, and wouldn't get tired at all. The wheels were crackling though, at least three tons resting on them.
Gomel had to reinforce the structure with steel bands and made plans with the dogs that we defeated. But it didn't seem healthy to use their corpses. Those abyssal monsters were already rotting alive.
"Just burn them." I requested. "I don't even want other animals to find these bodies. They might spread disease or something."
"No, we must not be wasteful." The smith was adamant. "You risked so much to fight them, the bare minimum is that I take their skin, and make sure to give you something useful as a reward."
We all agreed that eating their meat was out of the question, but their hide had interesting properties. It smelled terrible at first, but it was in a state where we didn't need to tan it.
At least according to Gomel. He put it into a barrel of alcohol to soak overnight, even though we protested, but he assured us it was poisonous from the start. He had plenty of barrels that he offered us instead. Beer, wine, and even stronger drinks he scavenged.
"What kind of dwarf would I be... I'd never waste a drinkable drop." He took our foolish charges personally. He already drunk a lot by that point, but he barely showed signs of being intoxicated. Dwarves were built differently, I guess. If anything, his strength only increased from it.
He treated the leather with some oil and herbs, and it was ready to be used the next day. He made belts, straps, and even saddles for the colts. He knew some leatherwork too, not just smithing. Most importantly, he made me an eyepatch.
Fang loved the idea. He was plenty drunk himself, but he took it once the dwarf was done stitching, and put it over my head.
"Heeer, for teh pirate captain, arrr!" The beastkin joked, fumbling with it for a while. "Iss onely fairr... The Captain of teh Twelve Champinos... Chamiponos... Would wear sumfin' made of the hellhound's hide... That he had slain himself. Am I right, Dio? Amazing, isn't it?"
"Probably not many goblins can claim that they fought and defeated abyssal monsters," Gomel added, proud of his work, but at the same time he kept blaming himself for the incident. "If only I didn't force this stupid idea to have you tame Nightmares for me. What was I thinking?"
His mood swings were quite amusing. It was unfathomable, how they didn't affect his work at all. Everything he made us was excellent.
"You make it sound like I fought them on my own..." I laughed, properly drunk as well. While I couldn't hope to keep up with Gomel in drinking, I held my own against Fang, and... Well, Bastion was already out cold after a few sips. "It's not how we planned but it is what it is. I can tell, it was worth the hassle. These are fine animals."
"Aye-aye Captain, arrr!" Fang contributed, before passing out for a while too. That meant I became the most fierce warrior for a brief moment. And I was severely injured as well...
The thing is, we didn't have a healer with us, as usual... But didn't have healing potions either. We treated our wounds as best as we could, but the pain still lasted for a while. The dwarf was no doctor, but he had alcohol, a lot of it. So for the lack of anything better, we soothed our pain with the drinks, for three days straight. By that time, the saddles were ready. Before even sobering up, we planned to move out.
Each on our paths...
Bastion convinced the dwarf to head over to Nateaser. That Lambert fellow gained another fan without even knowing yet, but we had to continue our journey towards the shore, then south along the coast. We aimed for a forward outpost that could send messages to the Ghell fortress directly, and it was easy from there. After seeing and fighting that hallucination before the fight, I was no longer worried about my treatment once we arrived. And we did have vital information to carry.
"I can't believe it's already time for a goodbye." Bastion was rather emotional before we set out in the morning, and he hadn't had a drink for an entire day. He had a history of falling, so I ensured he stayed in the saddle this time if he even fit in one.
Thankfully, the Nightmares started to warm up to us. Again, their stallion would stumble up to me and lick my wounded face. I doubted if their saliva had healing properties, but they did the same with their wounded colt. Maybe they did adopt me into their herd.
"They don't usually live in one," Fang explained in one of his relatively sober moments. "I didn't meet them before personally though."
Well, they did not burn us. Their flaming manes were no more than an illusion. They were not to be trifled with though, and I was glad if I never had to see their hallucinations again.
When they approached his colts the stallion was a bit suspicious of the rest of us, but after a few days, he didn't seem to mind. As it turned out, Bastion shared his meal with them, or rather, passed out eating and they simply stole his food. They were carnivorous or at the very least gourmands. Either that or everyone in this continent was a fan of Lambert's cooking.
"Is it all right, if we split this evenly?" Gomel apparently couldn't believe his luck. If we were counting the three of us, we had about a month's worth of food left, but after he made us these excellent weapons and armor, and even gifted a full barrel of wine for the road, it was only natural that we'd redistribute all the food between the four of us.
"This should easily last until you reach Nateaser," I confirmed, shaking his hands. "There, you can tell the human wizard that we send our regards. If you make him something, he will surely thank you with some excellent meals. And they are best served fresh, not after a week."
"You can even share it with the stallion." Bastion added after we learned what happened with his food. "I hope they won't miss the colts."
"As I just said..." Fang switched into education mode. While I was strict about not letting the ogre drink before we set out, the wolfman was much harder to control. His balance was still adequate to stay in the saddle anyway. "They would have split either way."
We set out late in the morning. We chose the southern gate, closest to the dwarf's shop. He took a tearful goodbye from the building, even though nothing stopped him from returning later. The second emotional farewell happened right outside the gates. He turned left from there, heading east and north to the orc's settlement.
We went in the opposite direction. West towards the coast, then planned to head south until we reached a forward outpost. We wanted to message the Demon Lord from there and decide what to do next. But first, we had to cut across mountains again. We kept waving for Gomel, as long as he was in viewing distance, but these abyssal horses were fast.
I estimated he'd only need two or three days to reach Nateaser. Maybe even less, if he decided to sleep on the move, but that seemed risky. From what we have seen, the animals didn't mind. Ours started galloping too as soon as we loosened their reins. The two older specimens went with the dwarf, pulling his heavy wagon, while the colts became our mounts. They had no issue carrying Bastion and probably barely noticed my weight. The saddles were surprisingly comfortable.
"I swear, this is much better than riding a wyvern." Fang said sometime after lunch. We didn't take a break, and ate in the saddle, only slowing down a bit. Thanks to the chilly autumn air, even the beastkin sobered up at this point. "If we were to drive them for real, they might be even faster than those monsters. But I guess they have the benefit of flying over obstacles. Still, these things aren't slowing down at all."
"If we keep going at this pace, we'll reach the sea tomorrow." I nodded as they effortlessly climbed up the mountain road. "I seriously think they worth losing an eye for. If that dwarf didn't bring it up, I never would have thought about riding a Nightmare."
"Did you even know they existed?" The wolfman laughed as if he knew, it was possible to tame them. "And well, I'm sure you'll get a replacement eye from the Demon Lord, once we get back."
"I bet a promotion will be in order too," Bastion added, enjoying the ride. I still didn't share their optimism but refused to ruin the morale of our small team. We sure have been through a lot by now.
"We will see." I only added. "For sure, if I've been alone or with any other one of the Champions, I've been dead for at least two weeks ago."
"Make it three," Fang argued. "Before this and the wolves, we already saved you in the mountains. In that tornado, you know."
"You did? Really?" I hollered at his presumptuous claim. "You mean I saved Bastion after falling off his wyvern like a brick? Then that we lucked out with the Goddess of Luck? If anything, you should thank me that I tricked her into helping us. Now that I'm reminded, I almost feel like going back and yelling at that useless witch Omerta a bit more."
"You might be right, Captain. That was your merit, but who saved you in the other mountain?" He kept yelling. "The Cyreneian pass? Hanging over a chasm, with the Princess holding on to you for dear life?"
"We've been through a lot this month, and it's not over yet. I wonder how those humans did." I pondered as the sun slowly set behind us. "If I could help it, I'd rather not fight the Inquisitorias."
"I don't mind fighting them," Fang claimed. "If Cath isn't with them."