I swear I didn't mean to frighten the kid.
Literally catching me with my pants down, he had strolled right next to where I was about to take a dump. With no other choice, I scampered up the nearest tree, weapons and all. My desperate attempts to reattach my loincloths had shaken the leaves nearby, and weakened the already thin branch I was propped on. I have to say though that when it broke, I was pretty proud of myself for landing on my feet. The balance it took was pretty impressive, weapons, armor and dignity considered. Though it must have spooked the poor boy greatly, judging by how fast he ran.
It had been about two weeks since the battle with the lizard, and I'd progressed to venturing on my own outside the camp. Gro'Bur had complaints about it at first, but when meals started to increase in size he quieted down. I would return every evening ,successful or not, but of course he still refused to let me go alone.
A snort from a nearby bush drew my attention. From a purple bush emerged the adorable Pongo, brown butt, tusks and all. I was the only one who called her that though, since Gro'Bur insisted on only calling her Pig. The goblin obviously held a long grudge. She nudged my arm hard, her way of letting me know she wanted to get home. In the process she ended up smearing the soot I had covered myself with all over her nose. She didn't seem to mind but the sight of her blackened snout was enough to have me snorting with laughter.
The past two weeks of self-improvement had taught me lots. Or rather constant failure had. Unlike before, I didn't have Gro'Bur to point out to me whenever a monster was nearby. That led to many a failed hunt, since I would usually end up alerting any prey nearby of my location. Covering my armor in soot was my attempt at camouflage, something that seemed to improve my hunting success to a certain extent. I decided that the first step would be for me to learn how to tell when one was nearby. Asking Gro'Bur for that was a bust, since his barrage of See this! and Here! were almost impossible to understand, meaning I was mostly on my own for this topic.
Other than the occasional footprint, the majority of the monsters residing here left barely anything I could discern as tracks. It was clear my father possessed a talent which I lacked. But there were talents of my own, and I hurried to use them. I spent a good deal of time mediating to try and find the source of my mysterious ability. It would be a lie if I said I wasn't excited. With great anticipation, I had rushed to do everything possible to awaken my magic.
Taking deep breaths, focusing on my belly, imagining spells and incantations in my head, this goblin tried it all. Where was the fire? The lights? The black, smelly stuff that was supposed to come out of my body? It was another long period of fruitless attempts before I realized that I didn't need to have tried so hard.
[https://i.ibb.co/9NqMSN8/goblin.png]
My latest and final idea turned out to be one that already bore results. Instead of trying to jumpstart the power within my body, why not use one that already existed? Although painful and extremely uncomfortable, the river water had shown clear results when using my magi-sense. Through it we had managed to avoid the spells the mage cast, and Ash'Kar had sensed my ability to talk to her. Useful talents to have, and definitely ones that I wanted to improve upon.
Making my way to the riverside again, I scooped up a mouthful of the clear, fresh liquid and gulped it down, awaiting the burn that followed. And burn it did. Though not as intense as before, I could feel the unseen magic element within the liquid bubbling within my stomach, threatening to escape. I activated my magi-sense on impulse, and was instantly rewarded with a ton of responses from the nearby wildlife.
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The flood of information caught me unaware, and I could feel my head reeling from the mental assault. Despite the pain, I had no intention of turning away this new sixth sense I had obtained. Surprising even myself, I endured the pain for what felt like an impressive period of time, while observing and noting the effects. White pulses carrying vibrations that differed from life form to life form, continued to shift and fade all around me. Time seemed to dilate once again. I saw the many birds nesting within the trees and the numerous beasts that preyed on them, their every action relayed to me in slow-motion.
Even in the river, I could see faint traces of magic that permeated its waters. My Sight did not extend so far that I could discern how and where this began unfortunately. And just as quickly and violently as it had begun, the fire in my stomach burned out and my vision was once again thrown back into the beautiful, but otherwise mundane plane of existence.
Was this the limit to the magic within the river, or was it due to the amount consumed? I wondered. I sipped the water again, but at a much smaller dosage.
The Sight lasted for barely a couple of seconds before winking out abruptly, proving my hypothesis. Happy at least that the 'spell' wasn't a complete bust, I attempted to refine and control it to the point that it wouldn't cripple me at every turn. Hour after hour I spent testing the water. From varying the dosage, to studying exactly how the spell was innately cast, it wasn't until the sun had begun to set that I remembered the humans would return to this area every night. My latest casting of Sight already notified me of their presence.
Although it wouldn't be too difficult for me to leave now, I chose to stay and study the humans. How they moved and acted might prove crucial to my continued survival. And of course, there was the mage. As much as he had tried to obliterate me, I had seen him cast so potent a spell that trees exploded in its wake. That was true magic and if I was lucky he'd do it again.
Though hopefully this time not at me. Desperate not to have a repeat of past incidents, I immediately burned away what little was left of the magic within my body.
As quietly as possible, I pushed Pongo back in the direction of the camp. The pig was smart enough to get back to camp on her own, so with the soot still on my face, I drew a picture of a sun on her fur along with my handprint. Hopefully that was enough to send a message to Gro'Bur that I would be staying the night. Hurriedly gathering up my scattered equipment, I scurried up a tree like a squirrel. From this new vantage point, I was able to survey the humans in relative safety. As before, the group moved in organized formations, this time increasing their ranks to about fifteen, from their previous twelve. The mage was there as hoped, since it was him that I was really staying for in the first place.
Setting up camp, the group wasted no time in getting into what I recognized as a pincer movement. One side would drive the herd towards the other with loud noises and scare tactics, while the other would lie in wait with nets. Being animalistic monsters, most of the creatures here would fail to discern the obvious trap, and be slaughtered in droves.
Effective, if somewhat simplistic. The coordination within the group was good, their actions well trained. Which didn't bold well for us, I might add. Who knows what other maneuvers the group had practiced, and I still hadn't seen or felt a single spell. Gro'Bur would be screaming high and low, but I still couldn't bear to leave without seeing one cast.
With nothing else for it, and the hope that Pongo's return wouldn't spur my father to do something stupid, well stupider than me staying here, I settled into the tree and continued to watch the mage. He seemed content to stand there, over seeing the men. With his arms crossed over his chest, and a stern expression plastered on his face, the mage was every bit the experienced leader I expected him to be.
Once again, not bolding well I say.
The monster trapping continued for a while, each time catching perhaps one or two of the beasts, though they did fail once. The creature was either too quick, or it was lucky enough to run directly past one of the chasers. Not expecting the sudden change, the man had let the prey escape completely unscathed. The information was useful to be sure, but it wasn't what I was here for. It was only until the group had begun to pack up that I saw my chance to see the mage in action.
A familiar silhouette stepped out from across the river.