163. Ascending Izmittor II (Patreon)

Tercius heard them before he saw them.

First came a short, high-pitched screech, a sound wave that gave both him and Lucky the shudders. Then, barely a breath later, came a series of fast, hollow-sounding clicks.

Born and raised near the other end of the continent, Tercius had never heard the calling sounds made by Steel Beaks before, nor had he even seen the predator for that matter, but the book that he read was spot on in the description. Tercius could just imagine the flightless two-legged raptor clicking its large beak dozens of times in a mere couple of seconds, the feathers of its short, clawed forelimbs puffed up.

After Tercius heard the sounds, he pulled on the reins for Lucky to stop and started patting the broad back. The ram had kept trying to change direction for the past few minutes and now Tercius knew the most likely reason why. Be it smell, sight, or hearing, the base senses of the mountainous herbivores were many times that of an unskilled human, not to mention that the beast likely had skills to enhance those senses.

Tercius swallowed. The true question now was what to do…

According to the book, that combination of screech and fast clicking was a call to others of its kind. Normally, Steel Beaks hunted in groups of two to three members— one large female and one or two males with her— but when one group found a prey that they couldn't take down on their own, they issued the call that others of their kind could hear far and wide. He better lose himself from here. Soon the place would be swarming with who knows how many packs of vicious carnivores, and both he and Lucky could be caught in the middle. Lucky was fast and agile, no doubts about it, but Steel Beaks were agile speedsters too and had no desire to find out which of them had the upper leg.

Tercius' eyes narrowed. Tangling himself with them could end up losing him time, not to mention that in doing so he would risk injury which could set him back even more. If possible, it was much more preferable to just make a wide arc around them. A little bit of scouting could help him do just that…

{Mana Sight} lit his dark green irises and the late afternoon of the day was plunged into absolute darkness, while all mana gained colors. The shades of green spoke of plants, the shades of red of animals and insects and reptiles, but although they abounded, these signatures were small and barely lit. Much further ahead of him and Lucky were three distinctly outlined shapes, a group of powerful shining beacons easily spotted through the duller tapestry of reds and greens. The three red beacons were on a much lower level than he and Lucky, perhaps in a canyon or a valley or something like that, and the intensity of the brightness of their mana spoke of their power, but Tercius' glowing eyes narrowed even further at something else he saw. Near the three red raptor-like outlines, was a group of mana outlines that kept throwing small glowing projectiles, all the while keeping the Steel Beaks at bay with long glowing poles— spears, Tercius guessed.

Seeing it all, Tercius just blinked. Humans. Hunters, most likely. A group of seven or eight of them, perhaps even more— they were huddled closely together and it was difficult to count them apart from the distance— was managing to hold their own against the three Steel Beaks. Tercius frowned bitterly. That wouldn’t last long. As soon as other Steel Beaks came to respond to the call…

He was alerted in time and could just choose to go around the area and avoid the problem entirely… His eyebrows twitched and his hands clenched around the reins. Those people down there might just end up as food if Steel Beaks responded in large numbers. He could help them deal with the ones that occupied them currently, certainly… Should he, though? For all he knew, he could be interrupting one of those tests that the elders gave their juniors… Survival of the fittest was the way of the mountains. Instead of gratitude, his help might earn enmity. While he cared for their enmity almost as much as for their gratitude– which was very little by default– the second one might end up causing him trouble along the way. He checked and saw no other beacons of mana or Energy signatures in the area– human, spirit, or otherwise. If this was a test, it was an unsupervised one.

Lucky’s ears moved at each screech and the beast kept shifting in place as Tercius’ face became more bitter with each second of indecision.

Finally, Tercius shook his head and sighed. Urging Lucky to go on, Tercius said in a low tone, “Let’s go Lucky…”

*** ***** ***

Leawarra blinked the sweat and tears out of her eyes, her bloody hands keeping pressure on the large gash in Murrayn’s leg. Even with a belt tightened around the thigh, the long gash still kept bleeding. Worse, Murrayn had closed his eyes and wasn’t opening them no matter what she tried. He was still breathing, if only barely, but no matter how much she wanted to, Leawarra knew not what to do to help him more than she already did. If only they could get him to a shaman in time…

Damn it all to Fire, they had to make it! They had to!

“They called! You heard it, you all heard it! We must go now before it's too late for us too!" Collyn shouted, damn his little mouth and that face of a fox. If her hands weren't much more needed elsewhere, she would have gladly choked the life out of the little cowardly twerp and sent it back to the hands of the Goddess.

“Shut your mouth,” Leawarra’s eyes narrowed with fury, “you ungrateful child! He’s not dead!”

Collyn recoiled as if struck by her words and as the eyes of others fell on him he showed a modicum of intelligence by keeping his mouth shut.

Damn the day they took him with them. Damn it all to Fire and back, twice over! They shouldn’t have come this way, not in the season when these beasts laid their eggs, nor… Murrayn better live to see another day— Leawarra choked back a sob and her eyes narrowed with a promise of retribution at the beasts responsible.

The female gutter was on the ground near them and bleeding out, the spear which struck the beast still hanging from the wound in the neck. Murrayn had done that and earned himself a wound in turn and now both of them were slowly sinking into oblivion. The gutter was keening its last mournful sounds, while Murrayn…

Even peppered with arrows as they were, the two smaller gutters were still circling them, snapping and screeching, fury visible in their beady red eyes and raised crown of feathers. They wanted their female back and they would not rest until they got her back or avenged her. They were fast and smart, able to spot and avoid the arrows and spears thrown their way. With their thick hide, the gutters would shrug off most arrows. A throwing spear was the true weapon against them. You needed to get them close and then, when they didn't have the time to avoid, you had to strike like a viper…

Murray’s skilled eyes and hands were needed here… or hers. As she glanced around the meadow where they made their encampment, she saw her bow where she dropped it earlier, but not her quiver nor any of her throwing spears. Only then did she notice that no one was shooting arrows or throwing short spears anymore, but rather only using the few remaining long spears to keep the beasts at bay when they approached.

The realization of their situation struck her with a physical blow. How did things go so far into the Fire in mere moments? Murrayn had fallen with a scream and a shower of blood, and she… she rushed to help him, instead of… Leawarra swallowed. She was to blame for this. What should she do now? Throw stones at the gutters? She would have to go to the waterfalls for anything bigger than a pebble…

As much as it pained her to leave him, Leawarra knew what had to be done. “Kalorra!” The young woman’s panicked eyes fell to Leabarra’s. “Come here and keep this pressed as hard as you can.”

As Leabarra’s bloody hands took over the spear from the young woman, a peace settled over her. With one last look at the bleeding man on the green grass, she uttered a prayer to the Mother of All Forests, her desire to see him again in this life or another burning brightly in her chest, and then joined the bulwark of spears that kept the vicious beasts at bay. Blinking away to clear her vision, she glanced at the three young men and two young women at her side. All of them had just passed their fourteen winters, while she had nearly twice that. None even properly blooded at that and all here to be taught the ways of the hunter. It would be a great loss for the tribe should they all perish here and now.

She was not a shaman or a craftswoman to wither with old age and grow small with a bent back. She was a hunter of the tribe and no hunter lived long past their prime. Murrayn and Leawarra were still in their prime, but they were older than most. Perhaps their time simply came. Perhaps the Goddess arranged this misfortune here and now to call for them to join her side.

Leawarra exhaled through her flared nostrils as she gripped the spear in her hands and prepared herself for the rushing gutters to come near again. She could accept the call if it was only for herself, maybe even for Murrayn though it pained her to even think of a world without his broody face, but not for these young ones. No, they still had things to learn and a life to live.

Even Collyn, damn his fast mouth and fearful heart.

“Here they come,” she said. An unnecessary warning, but young ones tended to perform better with someone clearly in charge. “When they come close, I will rush at the one on the left, and I need all of you to pounce to the one on the right. Keep it at bay as you did so far, while I finish off the other one. Keep each other’s backs and we will live through this. Understood?”

Nods and murmurs were her answers.

She crouched low, ready to spring at the gutters. Although the males were smaller, their shoulders stood around the mid of her torso, while their long necks gave their massive, teeth-filled beaks an entire arms reach to attack.

They came with a speed that tested the limits of her eyes, one moment seemingly ten paces away, the next they were near the tips of the bulwark spears. The young ones stepped out as one, driven more by panic than the hunter's goal. The tips of their spears and the long wooden shafts struck the long necks like clubs. Blood was drawn by luck, but only superficial scratches were made. Predictably, the beasts recoiled from the pain, and Leawarra's eyes glinted.

An opening!

She leaped forward, {Sprint [29]} giving her a massive boost in speed, and she hit a wall of muscles and ribs as the tip of her spear pierced the side of one of the gutters and lodged itself deep within. The beast screeched and Leawarra grinned as blood started to flow down its scaly side. Leawarra roared as she attempted to pull the spear out but her strength wasn't enough. A shiver ran down her spine as something caught the edge of her eye. She let go of the spear and threw herself to the side, a small thought praying that the young ones were alright.

Talons and teeth sheared the space where she used to be. Large beaks snapped with hollow thumps. She rolled away and then scrambled to get back to her two feet. The two gutters were right after her, the one that had her spear hanging from its side moving so slow that any child could have struck it with a bow and arrow.

Only now she had neither. Her face was grim. It would bleed out, given time, but the other one… Leawarra did the only thing remaining. She ran, her skill aiding her. The gutter screeched and came after her, shrinking the space that she desperately tried to enlarge.

Sprinting like never before, Leawarra gave it all she had to survive a little longer. A ghastly screech made her spine go rigid. Suddenly rooted in place, Leawarra's eyes went wide, and then she chuckled as her tiredness finally washed over her. She had run away from many deaths, but this was likely the end of her success. It was appropriate, in a way. She had taken from the land and its creatures, to feed and protect herself and others, and now it was time to return all that she took. Leawarra kept her eyes wide open, determined to see the last moments of her life.

Her heartbeat drummed deep and the world around her slowed down as she stared at the top of the waterfall. There, atop blue water, gray rocks, and amidst greenery, for a mere moment, she saw a majestic gray beast and a rider on it, standing up there and looking down on them. A gasp escaped her and her eyes misted over. The Mother came to watch her departure!

Then the young ones were upon her, roaring and waving their spears around her, the tips aimed at the gutter behind her. Leawarra released what she thought would be her last breath and took another one. Not a departure, but rather a chance! The Mother was giving her a chance! She had to prove herself worthy, here and now! For Murrayn! For all of their lives! Her fire suddenly burned brightly again! “A spear! Give me a spear!”

Someone shoved a spear into her hand. She gripped it firmly, tapped the butt of the spear into the ground, and aimed at the only menace remaining. The talon was so close and screeching that Fire damned call of theirs, its colorful head feathers flared, neck twisting from side to side, and beak wide open, hundreds of tiny sharp teeth lining the edges. Leawarra breathed in and ran forwards with a roar.

{Sprint grows from [29] to [30]}

Leawarra laughed as the spear’s head disappeared into the talon’s open beak and exited at the top of its skull. The Mother was with her! The beast gurgled around the weapon, blood pouring out of its mouth, then it went limp and fell, taking the spear down with it.

Leawarra didn’t hesitate. The beasts here were dead or dying. Even children could handle the dying one. She broke into a {Sprint} and ran towards the waterfall, where she fell onto her knees and placed her palms on the grass, her fingers digging deep into the earth.

“O Verdant Mother, I beg a boon!” Leawarra implored, mimicking the shaman of her tribe to the best of her memory. “O Heart of the Endless Forests, grant us safe passage and I shall pledge my soul to you—”

Collyn, damn his screeching voice, wailed like a gutter. “Fire and damnation! They are here! We’re too late! We’re too late!”

*** ***** ***

Tercius had tried riding around all of it. He had taken to the western hills intending to turn north after a while and in doing so reconnect with the upper flow of the stream within the hour. This had nothing to do with him, after all. He was neither responsible for these people nor should he put himself at risk when he had a clear goal which he had to meet. But then he heard their small screams and shouts and he thought about exactly what he was doing and… Something in him couldn't urge Lucky to go on any further.

One minute he was hearing their tiny screams and he started breathing heavily, another he felt like shit, and then within a third minute Tercius urged Lucky to turn back. The stream that he followed north so far was only a single branch of a much wider whole, and instead of going north along the wider stream, Tercius and Lucky went east and followed the other branch until he arrived before a great depression in the rocky land. The water of the stream fell down into a small valley and Tercius and Lucky stood at the top of it, taking the lay of the land and its inhabitants.

A raptor was meters behind a woman with dark braids and she was looking up straight at him. Tercius almost yelled out when a bunch of kids with spears ran over and poked it away. The woman, the one that saw him, turned around and barked some strange words at the kids and got a spear in return. She ran at the Steel Beak and speared the raptor’s brain out on the spot.

Seeing the casual moves, Tercius snorted at himself. He came back to help these people? The people of the mountains were hardy. They had to be.

Suddenly, the woman that casually brained the raptor turned around and ran in his direction. Tercius shifted in the saddle. What should he do now? Stay where he was, or… He needed someone local, and there they were... Should he wait... Slowly, Tercius tugged on the reins and had Lucky turn around and move away from the edge and out of the field of vision of those below. A clear voice of a woman came from below, the rushing and cascading water providing little impediment.

“O Verdant Mother, I beg a boon!”

Tercius’ eyebrows rose. A few words there sounded familiar… One of them might have been “mother” and, if he recalled correctly, one of them might have been a “gift”. But he had no idea of any of the other words… The ones that he knew came from learning Old Sogean, as Perdinar called the language. The form of Old Sogean that he learned from Perdinar was last spoken around seven to eight centuries ago. For some things, like a spoken language, some change is expected to occur during eight centuries…

Tercius didn’t stop as he guided Lucky to follow the stream’s branch back to the trunk.

“O Heart of the Endless Forests, grant us safe passage—” The voice continued and Tercius hummed. That one near the beginning was “center” or “heart”, if his ears and memory served him right. “—and I shall pledge my soul to you—”

Suddenly, a girl screamed. Tercius winced. “Fire and damnation! They are here! We’re too late! We’re too late!” More screams followed, even a roar or two, and Tercius’ eyes darted away from the kneeling woman and towards the children.

His face fell.

**********************

AN: Things are back on track at my place!