Chapter 28 - Half a dozen dogs

I awoke to a string of kill notifications and yet another headache. Twenty one Souls added to the bank and flickering lights in my eyes when I tried to focus. I hadn’t slept well, not because of strange dreams or anything god-related, but due to simple aches and pain. I had woken up more than once to a grating feeling in my chest as my ribs realigned themselves. The lingering effects of my heal spell had worked wonders on my broken body in the night but it hadn’t provided any anaesthetic.

Kril was snoring and farting merrily so I shuffled past him to carefully lift the flap of our tent and blinked in the early morning light. I needed to harvest the trapped animals and then-

My jaw dropped and I gawped around in surprise. The camp was being quietly disassembled. The stakes of the palisade were gone, presumably added to the long pyre burning atop where the giant had fallen. The warriors tent was already taken down and packed on an aurox for travel. A pot bubbled over the fire that had been rekindled while I slept.

“What time is it?” I muttered as I limped over and scooped a bowl of stew from the main pot.

“Late for a warrior to rise from his bed unless the woman is stunningly beautiful!” laughed Jandak. “Is Kril that pretty to you?” he joked.

“He farts too loudly for my tastes,” I smiled back and took a slurp of the stew. “We’re heading south then?” I asked.

“Time to go and confront Hakubin,” Jandak agreed with a grimace. “What are your plans?” he asked, giving me a speculative look.

“I don’t have any,” I replied truthfully. “I assume I need to replace him but-”

“Time enough for the details as we walk. We’ve weeks of travel and as winter draws in the path will only get harder,” barked Hatrikilo. “Vileslayer, a word?” The tone made it clear this invitation was closer to an order. I patted Jandak on the shoulder and moved over to the older man.

“Will I have time to recover my traps before we leave?” I asked. It would take me the better part of an hour but the bustle of the camp made it feel like we wouldn’t be here that long.

“You can get them and catch up. Hermune will wait behind to mask our trail as much as possible,” he replied.

“Mask our trail?” I asked.

“The other Ur-Viles will find the remains eventually. Raiding parties will come south looking for revenge but that’s a problem for next summer. We’ll push west when we get back to the plains for a couple of days then cut back to the east. We won’t be lighting fires for those days, then things will get more comfortable again. You can eat cold food?” he asked with a faint smile, I nodded in reply.

“Good man. Go get your traps. Hermune will guide you along our backtrail when you get done.” I looked at the aurox, already burdened with the fruits of our hunt. Three of them had long tusks strapped on either side. One had the bulbous bag containing the salted giant's head strapped down across its shoulders. The heavy sacks of meat and unrendered fat bulked out the animals that looked noticeably thinner than when we had set out.

I emerged from the woods a while later as the sun was fully risen to find the others gone. Hermune sat lazing by the path we had used to traverse the woods. He stood up as I approached.

“Kendyn. You’re well?” he asked. I grunted and tossed him half a dozen bunnies bound by cordage at the back legs.

“Well enough. Let’s go,” I said gently.

We walked quickly through the dappled light of the woods for a couple of hours in silence. I could sense he wanted to speak but I wasn’t interested in pushing him. Eventually he plucked up the courage.

“Kendyn, can you teach me?” he asked hesitantly.

“Teach you what, Mune?”

“To fight like you. To slay Ur-Viles and kill vile-cats with a single blow.” He mimed a spear throw. I glanced at him walking stolidly beside me. It was hard to gauge the ages of the tribesmen. The weather and harsh lifestyle made them all seem older than perhaps they were. Right now Mune sounded like a man just out of his teens.

“No. I can show you some tricks but I can’t give you my powers. I don’t think I can anyway,” I muttered.

“Tricks are good, as is uncertainty,” he replied cheerfully, picking up a spring in his step. I was sure I had just shot down his optimism but he seemed to have taken it the opposite way to what I intended.

We caught up with the rest around noon, Jandak had been lagging behind and whistled when he saw us, slowing the rest of the caravan down so we could catch up.

We trudged south for days through the increasingly chilly forest. I was being treated differently now. It wasn’t reverence, the jokes and put downs made it clear that I wasn’t on that kind of pedestal, but there was a new respect, perhaps tinged by fear, in the way they spoke to me most of the time. The only exceptions were Kril and Jandak.

Evening training resumed three days into the trek, once I was more or less fully healed. I stopped pulling my punches. If, like Mune, they wanted to learn my style of unarmed fighting they would have to suffer through the same bruises I’d had back in the day when I was taught by equally unforgiving taskmasters.

When we finally left the forest behind, Hatrikilo called a stop as we stepped out onto the grasslands. The loads on the aurox were redistributed at his direction and two were left with only minor loads of essentials. The other aurox grumbled and lowed in complaint as the weight across their backs increased. I had another two hundred and seven Souls in the bank from my traps and looked forward to each morning and the notifications. I had resisted spending any, undecided between filling out the potential of my magic, gaining more levels or a mix of both.

“Why?” I asked Kril, pointing at the reloaded aurox.

“Jandak and Hermune will lead a single animal each to lay false trails. It is overly cautious but Hatrikilo insists. They will pass further west than us, aiming to lay trails leading towards the Kindak summer lands. The Ur-Viles are crafty bastards, maybe next summer when they come looking for revenge they’ll attack our enemies instead?” Kril cackled at the end.

“They’re leaving us?” I asked and he nodded in reply. “Ask them to wait a few minutes, please.”

“Why?” I pulled out the pouch containing the vile-bears teeth that had been given back to me after we left Areskit all those weeks ago.

“I want to give them something to help. I’ll need four pouches.” Kril stared at me speculatively for a long moment before shrugging and bustling off to speak to Hermune and Jandak. They followed him back and he handed me four small leather pouches he had taken from one of the aurox’s packs.

“They’ll do.” I took the pouches and laid them out in front of me as I sat down cross legged. As I looked up the two warriors crouched down across from me while Kril lurked in the background. “I recently gained a new ability. I can enchant an item with a spell. I want to give you something to help you as you travel alone.” Jandak grinned and Hermune stared at me with wide eyes. My voice had carried to the rest of the party and the work stopped as people began to watch what I was doing until Hatrikilo’s voice boomed out and they jumped back to work.

I took the two upper canines of the bear, inches long and yellowed by age. Channeling healing into them I spent sixty mana to grant each tooth three charges of heal self. “These will give you three boosts to your healing. If you get hurt, squeeze them or slam a fist down over them and you’ll heal quickly, sealing significant wounds to stop blood loss.” I passed one to each of the men who looked at them sceptically.

“Let me demonstrate with another spell.” I needed to dispel their doubts. I picked one of the smaller incisors and enchanted it with a single cast of summon fire.

“Kril, throw this at that tree?” I asked, passing him the tooth. He grinned and spun to hurl it at a nearby oak that towered over us. When it struck the tree a fist size ball of fire appeared and floated in place for ten seconds, leaving long scorch marks in the bark.

“I need some of these!” Kril crowed.

“I can’t mass produce them. Each one uses my mana, my magical resource and I need time to regenerate it. But I will spend that resource to give brave men a chance alone in the wilds.” I infused ten more teeth and split them between two pouches. I gave Hermune and Jandak a pouch each. “They won’t do any great damage but a fire in something's face, or eyes, is surprisingly effective.” They chuckled as they remembered what I’d done to the Ur-viles eyes.

“Give me those healing teeth,” snapped Kril. He held out a hand expectantly and the two warriors shared a look before reluctantly handing them over. Kril hurried away to his pack and pulled out some thin lengths of leather. He carefully bound them to create crude necklaces and brought the products back to the gathering.

“You’re the fangs of the Kendyn, boys. Aresk guides your steps,” Kril said solemnly as he hung the necklaces around their necks. The two men grinned at each other and tucked the fangs down the front of their tunics.

“Don’t get too close to the Kindak lands before you cut the beasts loose,” Hatrikilo instructed. “If they are on the move for winter they’ll have outriders covering their flanks. Get a few days out then hurry back to us. And no fires!” Hermune and Jandak nodded to their commander and bowed to me. It felt strange and uncomfortable but I pushed the feelings aside and smiled at them.

“Vileslayer,” the pair said solemnly as I approached to say farewell. I offered them my hand in turn and they clasped my forearm, shaking it firmly before they set off alone, responding happily to the banter from the other warriors as they disappeared into the plains. We turned to a more southerly course than the pair and set off ourselves.

“They’ll not be bringing the aurox back with them?” I asked Hatrikilo as we fell into a single file. We had to walk that way to reinforce the illusion of the false trails.

“No. The beasts will be set loose when they turn back. Tracking an animal is easier than tracking a man who doesn’t want to be followed. The Ur-Viles are clever and may see through the distraction but it will hopefully send them to the wrong tribe at the start,” Hatrikilo grunted at me.

“How would any trace of our path remain after the winter? I’d think the rain and snow would obscure it and the new growth would hide the beaten vegetation.” I plodded along behind the old warrior, trying to put my feet in the same spots that his had fallen.

“The fuckers are clever. I don’t know how they do it but they’ll track us down eventually. Some say they have spirits that soar through the air and trace the true-path of those who wronged them. It’s all superstition, I reckon.” Hatrikilo spat off to one side. “They’ll be a problem next year either way. The decoys will give us extra time to prepare.”

“What kind of force will they send after us? Killing one was hard enough!” I replied.

“The biggest raiding party they’ve sent against us in the past ten seasons was six of the giant pricks. They killed fifty warriors before they were driven off.”

“You didn’t kill any of them?” I asked in shock. Losing fifty fighters for no kills seemed unlikely.

“Our spears did fuck all against them. Just like they did when we tried to help you. Barely pierce the furs, let alone the skin,” he growled. “We can pester them, hurt them a bit maybe, but kill them? That’s beyond normal men.” He shot me a look over his shoulder that I couldn’t interpret. Hope or fear or anger? It could have been any of those emotions .

“Half a dozen dogs can take down a lion if they work together properly,” I said as a plan began to form in my mind. As it stood the tribes were defenceless against these creatures, their weapons could barely break the giants skin let alone wound them, if I wanted dogs who take down this kind of lion I would have to cheat a little and level the playing field. It would take a lot of work and I’d be going against the customs of the tribe to an extent but it seemed like my best chance to make these people into what I needed them to become. My code nudged at me but the fact it would greatly benefit the tribes after I was gone sent my conscience back to sleep.