Chapter 302 - Sacrifice (Patreon)
Content
Pudge crouched amidst the gnarled roots of the massive mangrove tree. It smelled atrocious, and he could feel all sorts of tiny creatures swirling around his fur-covered feet. But that was true of almost everything in the swamp. Even keeping to the edges, his instincts screamed at him to turn back. And rightly so. Some of his earliest memories were of his mother leading him and his siblings along the edge of a swamp. The natural denizens of such a mire were peerless ambush predators, and heâd lost two of his siblings when a pair of giant reptiles had attacked. His mother had driven them away, but not before sheâd lost some of her children.
Back then, Pudge hadnât really understood death. Heâd expected them to soon return, but as theyâd left the swamp behind, his expectations faded away, replaced by fear. That feeling had been with him ever since, and it had never been more powerful than when theyâd been forced to wade into the murky water.
Sure, they could have turned back. That was always a possibility. But with that option came the surety that his reunion with Zeke would be delayed by months. He couldnât stomach that, and so, heâd pushed his fear to the side and entered the swamp.
Still, heâd hoped it would be a short detour. The moment they found a way back to dry ground, they would take it without hesitation. However, the days passed, one by one, until their time in the swamp had stretched into weeks. And even now, there was no end in sight. In fact, he found himself facing yet another obstacle.
A few hundred yards behind him, a miserable Sasha waited. Doubtless, she regretted her decision to accompany him. Theyâd barely made any progress in their journey, and already, an impassible barrier lay in their path.
Pudge watched for a few more minutes, remaining cloaked in [Concealed Steps] the entire time. It was a constant drain on his reserves, but he was more than willing to part with mana if it kept him from sight. If heâd had a pool like Zeke from which to draw, he wouldnât even need to worry about running dry.
Eventually, Pudge had leaned everything he could, and he slowly retreated through the stagnant water to where Sasha waited. Predictably, she wore the same perpetual frown that had decorated her snouted face for the past few days.
From Pudgeâs recollection, pigs were dirty animals who could often be found coated in mud. Sasha displayed none of those characteristics. Instead, she maintained a level of cleanliness that bordered on fastidious obsession. Of course, that wasnât possible in a swamp, and that had left her even more irritable than the constant air of danger that had followed them since wading into the swamp.
âWhat did you see?â she asked when he stopped beside her. Sheâd set herself up on a piece of relatively dry island. It was only a dozen feet across, but it had allowed them to spend a few hours out of the tepid water. Not that the dry land was much better â it was just different, and played host to its own dangers. Venomous spiders as big as Pudgeâs paw were particularly common. A single bite from one of those horrible creatures would be enough to kill someone with Sashaâs constitution, so they needed to be ever vigilant.
Sheâd brought along some potions that were supposed to cure such ailments, but the finite supply meant that she needed to avoid having to use them unnecessarily. Easier said than done, Pudge knew, but that was the situation nonetheless. For his part, he didnât really have to worry about poison or disease. His endurance and vitality were robust enough to deal with the weaker variants, and where those fell short, he had Zekeâs borrowed healing skill to pick up the slack.
It wasnât perfect. Far from it. The skill took forever to do anything worthwhile, but he wasnât the sort to complain about something that could save his life.
âNot good,â he said. Then, he haltingly explained the scene heâd been watching for most of the day. They hadnât really intended to, but theyâd inadvertently followed the troll hunting party through the swamp. It wasnât that surprising, really, considering that theyâd taken the only viable path. The trolls may have been swamp creatures, but they obviously preferred to avoid the deeper parts of the swamp just as much as anyone else.
âSo, thereâs a village in our way,â Sasha said, summing up his explanation. âHundreds of trolls and even more captives. Anything else?â
Pudge shook his great, furry head. Her summary was a lot smoother than his own description, largely due to his lagging ability to articulate his thoughts. He wasnât stupid. He just wasnât used to talking, and he hadnât had the chance to work on it yet. Soon enough, he and Zeke would be reunited, and theyâd figure it out.
âWe should go back,â Sasha stated.
For his part, Pudge agreed. That was the most prudent choice. However, he couldnât imagine a world where he did any such thing. The mere thought of being separated from Zeke for even an extra day, much less the months a retreat would add to the total, felt like a stab to his heart.
âNo.â
âWhat? No? Why?!â Sasha demanded, obviously exasperated, the questions punctuated by an errant snort.
âSame as always,â Pudge said, his mouth straining around the words.
âYour brother,â she said.
That was the explanation heâd given her. For some reason, he didnât think Sasha would understand the soul bond he shared with Zeke. Sheâd already shown more than a little disdain for the outside world â and the other races that populated it â and Pudge expected that prejudice would extend to humans. Never mind what sheâd say if she knew about Talia. So, Pudge had settled on describing Zeke as his brother â an apt description of their relationship even if it wasnât technically accurate â which had mollified her at least a little.
Before, she couldnât really understand why he was so desperate to leave the Pale Moon territory. But the concept of family, she could grasp. After all, she would do whatever she could for her own. Even so, there were limits, and traipsing through a troll village filled with captives of all sorts of races seemed to cross that line.
âYou go back,â he said, pointing back the way theyâd come. Then, he pointed toward the east â or the troll village â saying, âI go on.â
Sasha looked at him as if heâd gone crazy. And in a way, he had. Pudge could feel the bond tugging at him. Without it, he would still want to reunited with Zeke, but with the bond dragging him along, it became a mandate rather than a suggestion. He didnât just want to go to Zeke. He needed it.
âYou know Iâll do no such thing,â she spat. âSo stop suggesting it. Iâm with you until we find what youâre looking for.â
âWhy?â he asked.
âBecause I wonât spend my life hiding in the village and hoping no one attacks us,â she said. âYou donât know this, but the Pale Moon Tribe is barely holding on. Weâre safe enough because weâve hunted down anything powerful enough to threaten the tribe. That safety comes at a price, though. No danger, no advancement. Iâm the strongest of my generation, and you make me look like a novice. If weâre going to survive, we must venture away from the territory and grow. Otherwise, sometime in the future, someone â one of the other races, perhaps â will descend upon us and tear everything asunder.â
To Pudge, it made sense. Without struggle, there would be no improvement. And without improvement, they would be vulnerable. Every monster knew that right down to its very core. And at their most basic level, the beastkin were still monsters, albeit sapient and evolved versions.
âOkay.â
Sashaâs eyes widened. Then, she sputtered, âWhat? Thatâs it? Just âokayâ?â
âYes,â Pudge answered.
She looked like she wanted to argue, but after a few seconds, she thought better of it. Once sheâd regained her composure, she asked, âSo, what is your plan? How will we get past the village? There are hundreds of trolls there, right? Maybe as many as a thousand. It wonât be easy.â
Pudge tried to grin, but judging by Sashaâs expression, it probably came off more as a snarl. Then, he slapped his chest, saying, âNo problem. Ninja bear.â
âWhat theâŠwhat does that even mean?â she asked.
âNinja. Bear,â he repeated.
âSaying it twice doesnât make it any easier to understand,â Sasha pointed out.
Pudge shrugged his immense shoulders. It wasnât his problem that she didnât know what a ninja was. Clearly, she hadnât been raised properly. Even so, he took a few minutes to explain what he wanted to do. It wasnât a particularly complicated plan. He intended to wait until night, then use the cover of darkness to sneak past.
âYou know this isnât going to work, right? Trolls have notorious noses,â she said.
He grinned again, and she blanched, but her jaw dropped when he reached down and scooped a paw-full of mud from the ground beneath them. Then, he said, âCamouflage for nose.â
âOhâŠoh, noâŠâ
âYes.â
The next half hour was an exercise in torture for the porcine mage as Pudge helpfully slathered her with smelly mud. He didnât slack when it came to his own camouflage, either, copiously coating his own fur until it was entirely covered. Once that was done, night had fallen, and the pair set off in the appropriate direction.
Their pace was incredibly slow. Pudge used his [Concealed Steps] skill, but Sasha was forced to rely on natural means of cloaking her passage. The two stuck to the deep shadows, moving through the thigh-deep water so slowly it barely rippled. Like that, they eventually reached the troll village.
It wasnât really what Pudge would have expected from the primitive people. Their homes were well-made and built from stone, even if there wasnât a right angle or straight edge in the entire village. If he had to describe the settlement in one word, Pudge wouldâve called it haphazard. There was no symmetry. No rhyme or reason to the layout. Just random, lopsided structures constructed with huge, grey stones and bearing thatch roofs.
As for the population, they were, down to every single troll, congregated around a central bonfire. Pudge didnât think their numbers quite reached into the thousands, but even a few hundred trolls gathered in a single place was a daunting sight. Still, it was a lucky thing because the meeting meant that Pudge and Sasha were much less likely to be detected.
Or that would have been the case if Sasha hadnât reached out and dug her fingers into his arm.
He let out a low hiss of annoyance, but when he looked back to glare at her, he saw her gesture toward the bonfire. When he looked in the indicated direction, his heart jumped into his throat at what he saw.
The captives.
Or what was left of them, at least. Humans. Elves. Beastkin. It didnât matter what their species, they were all treated the same.
A tall, thin, and wizened shaman troll stood next to the fire. In one hand, it clutched a staff topped with a reptilian skull. In the other, it held a long, wicked dagger that in the hands of a human would have been a shortsword. A pair of burly trolls shoved their captive â a man who had the features of a striped cat â toward the shaman. The trollâs dagger arced out with immaculate precision, slicing the cat-manâs throat. Even as he clutched at the wound, another burly troll shoved him into the fire, where his burning body joined dozens of others.
For a moment, Pudge had no idea why the trolls would do such a thing. Heâd assumed that they had captured their prisoners for food, and though he found that disgusting, he could at least understand it. However, this was just wanton slaughter.
And then he felt the swirling mana in the air, and it only took him a couple more seconds to recognize it as a skill.
Or a ritual.
More, only a moment later, he felt a familiar tingle of corruption in the air. It was barely an undercurrent, but to a half-demon like him, it was immediately recognizable as a connection to the demon realm.
âWe must go,â he growled.
Sasha let out a confused snort, then spat, âWhat? No! We must save ââ
âDemons are coming,â he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her along much more quickly than before. He didnât precisely abandon stealth, but given her level of struggle, he may as well have. It didnât matter, though. The trolls were all occupied with their sacrifice, and judging by how quickly the corruption intensified, it would soon reach a crescendo. Pudge had no intention of being anywhere near the village when it did.
If they were smart, the trolls wouldnât be either.
Nothing good came with contacting the demon realm. He didnât think they could manage to open a portal â after all, it had taken the warlock an immense level of power to do so back in those obsidian caverns â but they might let something through that might manage it. And Pudge wasnât so naĂŻve that he thought he could handle such a foe.
They were a couple hundred yards past the village when the screams began.
As soon as those blood-curdling crashed over them, Sasha stopped struggling and bent her efforts to moving as quickly as possible through the muddy water. Pudge pushed her to the front, putting himself between her and whatever had caused those screams. After all, he was better equipped to deal with it.
Still, he continuously urged her to go faster and faster as the night wore on. Fatigue gripped them, but they didnât dare stop. Not until well after dawn when they reached dry land. Even then, they kept going as long as they could before finding a sheltered overhang under which they collapsed in exhaustion.
âW-what was that? What happened back there?â Sasha breathed. Pudge noticed that foam had collected around her lips, just as it had on his own snout.
âDemons,â he grunted, too spent to expend the energy to better articulate his thoughts.
âHave youâŠwhat do you know about demons?â she asked.
âBad. Very bad.â
Sasha looked as if she wanted to say more, but she either didnât have the energy to do so, or she didnât think she would get much more of an answer. So, she fell silent.
Not long after that, the pair fell into an exhausted sleep. In any other scenario, one of them would have kept watch, but neither were capable of maintaining consciousness for any longer.