My Remise - Chapter 2: The Man in the Hooded Cloak
This is an excerpt from my novel, My Remise. The first four chapters will be released here on SoFurry over the next month. The full 447-page novel is available to purchase on my website, https://kodacopeland.bolf.club/
Book Description:
Wrestling is life to Artbe. At least it was until a disastrous match shattered his chances of transferring from his community college to a real-deal university wrestling team. When an offer from a mysterious figure promises to solve his problems, he finds himself thrust into Deavon, a world filled with talking animals called beasts. Tasked with joining a prestigious guard and stealing a magical codex from a tyrannical polar bear who has plunged the land into eternal winter, Artbe must navigate an unfamiliar society while putting together the broken pieces of his life.
Complicating things further, Artbe finds himself attracted to his new roommate, a striking male wolf named Leofric. As the two grow closer, Artbe begins to question his sexuality and his place in life. If he has any hope of retrieving the codex and ending the permanent winter, he must learn not only what it means to be human, but also what it means to be a beast.
This book contains adult situations and is intended for mature audiences only.
Art by https://www.furaffinity.net/user/biggoodwolf/ The book also contains four interior illustrations.
I don’t stick around after the meet, bolting as soon as Coach is done yelling at me. On my walk home, the night air has a bite to it since the only thing I have on over my singlet is a hoodie. Usually, the night calms me after meets, but not tonight.
While I own a car, after Dad passed, I chose an apartment close enough to campus to keep the walk doable. So, to save money, I only drive in when I absolutely have to. It’s cramped and run down, but most importantly, it’s cheap. The night shifts I work at a convenience store a few blocks away from my apartment covers rent but not much else, so every penny counts. Wrestling is the only reason I haven’t dropped out of school yet to find a full-time job, but with that avenue gone, maybe it’s time to reconsider.
As I shuffle down the sidewalk, not in any real hurry to get home, scurried footsteps gradually increase in volume behind me. I don’t bother to look back. I know who it is.
“Hey, Art! Wait up.”
A lanky guy runs up to me, and I get my confirmation that it’s my closest friend since grade school, Keanan. I lift my head to acknowledge his presence, but I don’t greet him.
“I was looking for you after the match, but your coach told me you already left.”
“I just needed to get out of there.”
“Oh yeah? I wonder why.” Keanan bumps into me in jest, but I don’t respond, and an awkward silence grows between us. “Really, Art. What happened back there?”
I don’t answer immediately, mulling over whether I want to have this conversation right now. But Keanan is my best friend. We’re going to talk about it at some point, so I might as well get it over with now.
“He made me angry. I wanted to hurt him. Not that much, but with the shit he was saying, I wanted to make sure he was walking funny tomorrow. But I didn’t throw him back hard enough to break bone. I don’t know what happened.”
The strange vision goes racing through my head again. There’s no way I’m telling Keanan about that. Not that he would know what to make of it, anyway. I don’t even know what to make of it.
“What could he possibly have said to set you off like that?” he asks. “You looked pretty calm before the match.”
I let out a deep breath, already knowing how Keanan will react. “He called me a fag.”
“Really, Art? You let that get to you. Still? I thought you got past all of that.”
“Look, I’m not gay. I don’t like being told that I am.”
“That’s not even the point. You’re still letting shit that no one cares about piss you off.” He gives me that look of disappointment that I hate seeing from him. He’s right, though. Why do I keep letting juvenile name-calling like that get to me?
Last year, in my senior year of high school, one day after practice I got caught supposedly checking out one of my teammate’s crotches. One guy, who already didn’t like me, saw me looking over in their direction and took it the wrong way. He started running his mouth around the school, saying I only joined wrestling because I was a queer and wanted to rub my junk all over other guys. Pretty quickly, rumors started to go around that I was gay. It didn’t help that I have never had a girlfriend before, but the whole thing was ridiculous. He just happened to catch me looking at the exact right time to make everything awkward. Even though it was just high schoolers teasing as high schoolers do, topics like that just make me uncomfortable. I know it’s best to ignore it and move on, but I think tonight is proof that knowing something and doing something are two completely different things.
“I don’t let it get to me anymore,” I finally say. “It was just the way he said it. He wouldn’t let up.”
“Look man, you can’t go around fighting people and breaking their legs just because they make you mad. Besides, you’re in, like, the gayest sport there is. You have to be able to put up with a little teasing.”
I stop dead in my tracks and turn to face Keanan. “First off, wrestling is one of the oldest and manliest sports there is. And secondly, this is coming from someone in the fencing club?”
“Captain of the fencing club, I’ll have you! And at least when someone insults my honor, I can just challenge them to a duel. You know, instead of breaking their legs.”
We start walking again. I keep my hood down and stick my hands in my sweatshirt’s front pocket. “I just lost focus. The only thing I could think about was proving I was tougher than him. You know, show him how much of a man I am.” Saying the words out loud makes me realize how silly that is.
“You can still be a man and be gay. Some say there’s nothing manlier than taking—“
“Dude, gross.” This time I’m the one to bump my shoulder into Keanan, and he mockingly goes flying off the sidewalk into the street.
“Ouch! I think you broke my shoulder!” he cries out in over-dramatic pain.
“Not funny. I screw up the rest of my life, and this is how you try to cheer me up?” Despite the seriousness of the last part of my statement, my tone is playful. Knowing that Keanan cared enough to track me down after the meet is enough to lift my spirits, even if it’s only by a bit.
Keanan takes his place back next to me on the sidewalk. “Come on, you didn’t screw up your whole life. Sure, you won’t be able to wrestle at a university. I mean, no scout is going to want to touch you with a ten-foot pole now, but you can still transfer to one and finish your degree. Get a decent job when you graduate.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You’re already locked in with a fencing scholarship. Without one from wrestling, there’s no way I can afford tuition at a university. I won’t even be able to afford it here after Coach drops me from the program. I’ll probably have to drop out and see if my job will let me go full time. Maybe I’ll get promoted to manager one day and make a few bucks more an hour. Probably the best I can hope for.”
All the good spirits Keanan filled me are withering away. I’m genuinely screwed. I knew I wouldn’t be able to wrestle for my whole life, but transferring to a university was at least a direction. It was something to move me forward. Now, what?
Being the good friend that he is, Keanan doesn’t relent in trying to cheer me up. He shifts the conversation to more light-hearted topics, and I politely add in when I can, though it doesn’t fool him.
When we arrive at my apartment complex, Keanan lingers.
“I got nothing else going on tonight. Want to play some games?” he asks.
While that does sound fun, I don’t know if I’m up for more socialization. Even with Keanan.
“No. Thats okay. I think I just need some time alone to recharge.”
Keanan frowns. “You sure man? Best thing about visiting from college is my parents can’t enforce a curfew.”
I consider it for a moment, but while I know being around my best friend would be good for me, with everything that happened tonight, I can’t bring myself to it.
“Yeah. I’m sure.”
He points his finger at me. “Tomorrow then.” It’s not a question.
This gets a smile from me “Tomorrow. Deal.”
I turn to my apartment, but Keanan grabs my arm. I don’t react to his touch or turn around. “Art—I just—I know tonight sucked. And it’s hard to see anything good in your future. But you’ll get past this, just like you’ve gotten past all the other crap life has thrown at you. These hiccups—don’t let them define who you are.”
Why does everyone keep telling me that tonight? “Thanks, Keanan. I’ll try.”
“Now, go take a shower. You freaking stink, dude.”
I roll my eyes and groan, then reach for my apartment door. “Good night, Keanan.”
My apartment is small and hardly has any furniture in it. There’s no couch, no dining room table, no bookshelves, just a single fold-up lawn chair in front of a TV with a video game console hooked up to it. I had to sell most of our possessions after Dad passed, and with everything going on, I haven’t found the motivation to unpack the little that I do have. The only personal touch I’ve added to the whole place is a photo of Dad and me on a lake fishing. We didn’t travel much, but we would often vacation at a campground near a small town a few hours away.
Looking at my phone, it’s almost eight o’clock, and I realize I haven’t eaten all day. There’s not a lot of food in the house, but I might still have a few packets of ramen I can make. I contemplate ordering a pizza. I no longer need to worry about keeping weight, right? I think I’ve earned a calorie overload as a pick me up.
But then I notice the calendar on my fridge. The box for the first of the month has RENT DUE written in big, bold red letters. My paycheck doesn’t come in for another week, and even with that, making rent will still be tight. Pizza is out of the question.
I lean back, putting my hand at the edge of the sink, and exhale a deep sigh. There’s no way I can keep this up long term. There has to be some other option. Since Keanan is starting his second year at MarryGold University, he’ll be moving out of the dorms. Would it be possible for me to room with him? Transfer schools or find a new job in a new city. Get a fresh start on everything, regroup, and figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life.
Before I have time to further consider that as an option, there’s a soft knock at the door.
Is that Keanan? No, it can’t be him. He wouldn’t bother with a knock. He would just barge in and crack a joke.
I really don’t want to deal with anyone else tonight, but I go to the door anyway, opening it just a crack—but when I see who my visitor is, I swing it open with force.
“You got some nerve coming here,” I say to the mysterious cloaked figure from the wrestling meet who’s now on my doorstep, his features still obscured by his hood beneath the dull orange of my porch light. “Did you follow me home or something?”
“Follow you home? Yes, I did, as I was unaware of where your place of dwelling was. I needed to speak to you in private.” His voice is raspy, and his tone carries a bit of arrogance to it. Almost as if he’s annoyed by having to talk to me. And who the hell admits to stalking someone like that?
“Look, what do you want? I’m not really in the mood to deal with anything right now. Are you a scout? Or do you know the guy I was wrestling?”
“No, I am nothing of the sort. You could say I am here to scout you, although not for the reason you might believe. Allow me to introduce myself first. My name is Sir Winton Truemane of Deavon.” He drops his hood, revealing an older-looking white man, maybe in his fifties, with graying brown hair and a salt-and-pepper beard. His hair is messy and unkempt, and his beard looks like he trimmed it himself with a pair of kitchen shears. “Your name is Artbe. Correct?”
I nod, never taking my eyes from him.
“I know this is probably quite a shock, but we have met before. Although long before you would remember.” He pauses, closing his eyes for a moment before continuing. “I knew your father.” His voice falters on the last part, losing his confident tone.
The tension I was holding relaxes. “You knew Dad? Did you work for animal control as well? I guess come in. Sorry, don’t really have many places to sit,” I say, gesturing to the lone lawn chair by my TV. “It’s yours if you want it.”
Winton moves inside, and I close the door behind him, but he doesn’t take the seat. “Thank you, but I am hoping we won’t be staying long.”
Did he say “we?” I give him an inquisitive look, but he ignores it.
“Forgive my folly. I knew your, I believe birth parents is the term?”
I stare at him. My birth parents? Just the thought of them gets me angry. “You mean the people who didn’t want me? The ones who abandoned a baby in a dumpy motel? I have absolutely no interest in meeting them, if that’s why you’re here.”
I wrote off wanting to find my birth parents a long time ago. They don’t want me—I don’t want them. Winton doesn’t move for the door. Instead, he stands there looking up at me. Inspecting me.
“They did not send me. Your father passed when you were young. The other…does not wish to be found. However, I can assure you your parents loved you greatly. Those involved in your abandonment had few other options. They did it for your protection.”
I let the fact that I actually have two dead fathers wash over me. Instead, I focus on the audacity of this stranger acting as if he knows me.
“My protection? I could’ve died if no one had found me. I was lucky some drug addict didn’t pick me up.”
“It was difficult on everyone involved, but what’s done cannot be changed, no matter how much the past is regretted.” Winton turns away from me with a somber expression on his face. “I would rather not speak to the details of that situation right now. I am here for a different reason.”
“Oh yeah, and what’s that?” I scoff at him, folding my arms.
“I need your help. My home—your home—is in danger. And despite all my connections and prestige, the task I need you for is something I cannot do myself.”
“This is my home.” I gesture to my apartment, also implying Sunny Valley. “Maybe I didn’t get to choose it, but this is where I grew up. Wherever you’re from, even if I was born there, that doesn’t make it my home.”
“It is still the place of your lineage, and a great lineage you have. You have no concept of how special you are there.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit. You don’t even know me.”
Winton winces. “No, regrettably, I do not, but that does not change the fact that you are indeed different from most people in this world. That, I know for certain.” He takes a small step closer to me but turns his head to the side, avoiding looking at me. “This place you have known as your home is not natural for you. Here, you will never live up to your full potential. Deavon is where your true calling lies.”
Even though I’ve been trying to get away from Sunny Valley, it’s not an awful place to live, and it’s definitely not as bad as other cities. Winton is making it sound like where he’s from is some kind of utopia. Though he could just be generalizing, trying to get into my head.
“I’m sorry to tell you, but you wasted your time coming here. You must think I’m crazy if I’m going to go with you to this ‘Deavon.’ Wherever the hell that is. If it even exists at all.”
Winton turns back to me, focuses himself on my eyes, his short stature having to look up to meet them. “From my understanding, your financial circumstances are dire, and the events of this evening have left you in a precarious situation.”
My heart sinks. “Yeah, sure, money is tight…” I shrug but deflate a little as the words come out of my mouth, remembering my conversation with Keanan. I was really banking on having all my expenses paid for the next four years.
“Then you should see this as the perfect opportunity. By helping me, you will be compensated greatly.”
This makes me pause. “How much are we talking about?”
“Enough funds to allow you to live a lavish life. All your wants and desires fulfilled.”
“Can’t you tell me an amount?”
“I cannot. It would be, well, difficult for me to quantify a value you could comprehend. I assure you, though, you will be pleased with the arrangement.”
While this whole interaction is strange, some part of me is compelled to listen to what he has to say. It’s not that I trust him—I don’t—it’s more that I’m drawn to him. Did that vision with him do something to me?
“Okay, let’s back up. What do you even need me to do? No amount of money will persuade me if it’s dangerous.”
“I would rather go over the details once we have arrived in Deavon.”
I stare at him blankly. “So, you want me to pack up and go with some strange, weirdly dressed old guy all because you claim you know my birth parents, and you promise to pay me an amount of money you can’t even put a number to?”
“Yes, that is the general situation.”
I shake my head. “You’re crazy.”
Despite saying that, a part of me actually wants to go with him, and he can tell I’m considering it. After tonight, I want to run as far away from this place as possible. I’m dreading going to practice tomorrow and facing the crazed, scared look on Coach’s face as he kicks me off the team. If what he’s saying is true, this could be the answer to my financial issues. Maybe if I disappear for a bit, I can come back with some money and reevaluate my life.
Winton reaches into his cloak and pulls out a pocket watch. After checking the time, he taps his foot impatiently. “You will be well taken care of. You have my word.”
I consider his offer one last time. What do I have to lose at this point? I’m not on a team anymore, I work a dead-end job, and with no college prospects, the only thing keeping me here is Keanan. If there’s even a slight chance for me to make some extra money, I should take it.
I take a deep breath and slowly exhale. “The word of a stranger doesn’t really count for much,” I say. “But—say I was to go with you. How long will this take?”
Winton smiles softly, knowing that he has me hooked. “We will need to make a few stops along the way. Our first destination will only take a few hours to reach. As for the duration of your stay in Deavon, that rests on your ability to achieve your task expeditiously.”
“And you’re still not going to tell me exactly what I need to do?”
“We will need to be in Deavon for me to explain. It would be bewildering to you otherwise.”
Am I really considering taking off to some place I’ve never heard of with someone I just met? Winton is clearly hiding information from me, and I don’t particularly appreciate that he isn’t giving me the entire picture of what he wants me to do. Nothing today seems to make much sense, but I know one thing for sure—I need to know why I saw Winton in my head during the meet. I know that wasn’t a daydream. The tendril of light and the surge of power—I felt it—that actually happened—and I have to know why. Not only that, but at this point, I’ll take anything that will get me away from what’s happening in my normal life.
“Alright. Fine, I’ll do it. The pay better be as good as you say it is.”
“Excellent.” Winton claps his hands together, and he smiles for the first time.