Hive Knight: A Dark Fantasy LitRPG (Trinity of the Hive Book 1) by Grayson Sinclair (black authors fiction txt) 📕

are out here? As soon as we entered the home, Oscar busied himself tidying up the place, opening the bay windows that looked out over the field and trying to make the house presentable for guests.

It wasn’t a sty, far from it, but it was clear Oscar hadn’t been expecting company. “Pardon the mess, friends. I haven’ had guests in quite a while.”

“That’s quite alright, Oscar. Thank you for the hospitality; you have a lovely home,” Eris said.

Oscar motioned for us to sit at the table, pulling our chairs out for us and heading to the kitchen. I sat down and leaned back against the wall, Eris had the view of the lovely fields while I had an eye on the door and the kitchen. She poked me under the table with her finger, smiling at me.

“You can relax, you know,” she said, wiggling her finger to let a single drop of her magic spill out. “There isn’t anyone around us except for Oscar.”

I leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

“I know, love.”

Oscar came back less than a minute later with three tall glasses filled to the brim with beer. “I hope you enjoy,” he said as he sat them down in front of us. “I usually make extra and sell what I can’t drink to the neighbors, but I made this cask special, so I hope you like it.”

I took a deep pull, draining half of it in a few gulps. It was a little hoppy, but it went down smooth, and I found myself draining the glass before I knew it. Eris, on the other hand, played it much more cautious this time around, only sipping at the beer, though from the way she licked her lips, I’d say she enjoyed the taste.

Oscar looked at me and laughed. “Finally, another man who can drink his beer,” he said, pushing his untouched beer my way. “I’ll go fetch us another couple mugs.”

He returned shortly with even more beer and kept happily plying us with drink. I slowed my consumption considerably, after the first two, despite being tempted with delicious beer. Oscar seemed genuinely happy to have people enjoy the work he put into his hobby, but as much as I wanted to stay and keep drinking, we needed to reach the East Kingdom before dusk.

After we dined on a light meal of chicken and steamed vegetables, we helped clear the table and said our goodbyes.

“Thank you for the meal, and the booze,” I said.

“Ah…I’m jus’ glad you enjoyed it. Makes meh old heart happy.”

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he just smiled, thanked us for stopping by and wished us a safe journey.

We hopped on Lacuna and set off down through the farms. Eris hadn’t drunk nearly as much as I had, but her face was a little red, and she seemed to be in fine spirits.

“That was lovely,” she said, reaching for my hand.

“Yeah, it was nice to relax for a moment. Beer was damn good, too.”

“It was tasty, reminded me a bit of banlin.”

“Banlin?”

“It was a ceremonial drink for my people, only brewed during the celestial harvest. It was my favorite time of the year, since I could go out and meet other people without my parents watching over me. I loved banlin, though the children were never allowed alcohol. It was still delicious without it.”

“Color me intrigued. What do you say we figure out how to make it ourselves? Do you know what goes in it?”

Eris perked up at that, turning around to smile at me. “I don’t remember, but I bet I can find the answer in the Hive Mind if I look hard enough.”

We passed the last of the farms and were back into open fields. With the last of the farms fading behind us, the dirt road widened, and I spurred Lacuna faster, pushing her to a trot. “I still know very little of your people, so why don’t we try to change that when we get back to Gloom-Harbor?”

“I’d like that.”

We continued onward, talking intermittently. Eris had few truly fond memories of her childhood, so we couldn’t really talk about her past without inadvertently hitting a nerve, and my past was equally as damaged, so we talked about other things, stupid things like the names of trees and plants we passed.

Eris had extensive knowledge of fauna, and she lit up every time I asked her to name off an obscure plant.

 I kept my eyes open for any sign of bandit activity since Oscar told us they’d been in the area, but I never saw any sign of them. By the time, the white walls of the Compass Kingdom came into view, I grew lax on my vigilance.

We’re five miles from an Alliance patrol route. We’ll be fine.

We were close to Grange, the hub of all things farming and one of the busiest towns in the area around the Compass Kingdom. More of a city than a town, as several thousand residents lived there permanently, and thousands more worked in the fields that surrounded the area.

Eris had been using her magic off and on all day, working to build up her strength and control. I’d long since gotten used to the strange scent it produced, and what little smoke dribbled out was quickly swept away by the wind, so I forgot she was even using it until she spoke up.

“How much farther till we reach the town?” she asked as we were about to enter a dense thicket of trees.

“Less than half an hour, why?”

She turned back to face me, holding a look of mild curiosity.

“Oh, I was just wondering. Do people normally come this far out of town?”

“It’s possible, I guess. Why do you ask?”

She pointed at