“Lord Audrey ?” Jacob asked nervously.
“Yes?”
“Erm, I hesitate to say his name,” He looked towards Ergo and Gail, who were talking amongst themselves, “but, won’t Charles be joining us before training?”
“No, Charles already has the skills we want. He’ll, well, he’ll be playing a different role from each of you.”
From what Jacob had seen of his two companions so far, he imagined his own role would be different from them too. “Each of us will, right?”
“Oh-ho, you’ve correctly assessed the situation there you have.” Everett said with a cheery voice. “Yes, that’s exactly right. Figured out what your role is yet?”
“...moral support?”
The lupen gave a grunted laugh. “Or human shield.”
“He is too small for that.” Audrey was joking, but his brother gave him a serious look all the same.
“No one is going to be that!”
“What’s this all about?” Gail butted in. “If anyone would make a good shield, it’d be the lupen.”
“He is not wrong.” Audrey said. “Though I do not know how that would affect your standing with your brothers and sisters.”
“Depends on who I protect.” The lupen said, offering no clues on who would fit to be protected.
“Well, the kid doesn’t need to fear then.” Ergo said. whether he assessed correctly or not hardly if the lupen would protect Jacob hardly mattered; it’s what Ergo believed.
The six of them weren’t no longer in Tenignum, but were rather approaching a village a few miles away. The village was the last known sighting of the pack of lupens that had departed before they had gotten into ‘trouble’.
“What do you think happened?” Ergo asked the lupen. “From what we’ve heard so far, everywhere they go is gaining a curse.”
Monster attacks had increased significantly to the impacted villages, to the point they were on the threat of destruction. Part of the reason the group had come down was to calm the village and prevent even more discord amongst the populi, but also to find the pack and warn them of their intended, or unintended, actions; this had already caused a discussion amongst the group. The lupen had stayed quiet, until now.
“We know that every being fears us in some capacity, moreso for monsters. Before though, the monsters here were quiet.”
“So you’re saying they don’t know they’re causing all this?” Ergo responded.
“If they did, they would help.”
“Mm, I think so too.” Jacob said.
“I can’t say. I didn’t know this pack.” Gail said. “Though, to be honest, after hearing what happened to their cub, I don’t think they would be as open to help.”
“There was the fact that some of the lupens had a vendetta against all humans that made me concerned.” Audrey voiced.
“Do you think they helped, Lord Audrey?” Jacob asked.
“...the Mother would.”
Reaching the top of the hills, the unnamed village came into view. For a village to get a name -usually given by a Pulcha-, they need to reach a population cap of 1000, and need to have an inn. The only exception to both of those criterias, was that it exported goods to local villages or towns, but few had the means to protect the goods on the road, let alone themselves.
“I should not come down there with you.” The lupen said.
“I agree.” Both Pulcha’s said simultaneously. “Stay out of sight, but close by. Don’t want more monsters to be drawn in.”
The lupen promptly left. Another 30 minutes of trekking down, and the party arrived in the village of 237 souls. The number was etched onto a chalkboard, which had evidently been recently modified.
“200…and I want to say 70, something.” Ergo voiced.
“They’re lucky it wasn’t less.” Audrey said. “Monster attacks usually decimate an entire village.”
“True enough.” His brother agreed.
Their arrival caused an excitement in the village. Passing by travellers were rare, and stay in villagers even moreso, so for their guests to be two Pulcha’s, well, suffice to say, it was quite the occasion.
“Well, this is good in one way.” Jacob said to Ergo and Gail. “At least their hopes are up.”
“I forget, this is your first time seeing this, ain’t it?” Gail responded. “I remember seeing it my first time as well.”
“What went through your head?” Ergo asked. “‘Only a Pulcha can have this effect’ , I thought.”
“Yeah, pretty much the same for me.”
While the Pulcha’s expertly handled the croud, the group went off to find the village elders. They were quickly found.
“We’re here with Lord Audrey and Lord Everett.” Ergo took the lead. “There’s been with some issues with a lupen pack ,we’ve heard? Can you tell us what direction they were going towards?”
“Yes, south-west.” The Village Elder, who was easily in his forties, pointed in the correct direction without need of a compass. Noone doubted if he was wrong or not. “The monsters came from that direction as well.”
“Are they all dealt with?”
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“No. One lurks in a cave. I am scared to send more men in.”
“We’ll deal with the monster. We’ll come back once it’s been dealt with. You know what monster it was?”
“A hirudostrum.”
With that little nugget of info, the three went off to deal with the monster.
“What’s a hirudostrum?” Jacob asked once they were out of the village.
“You ever seen a leech?” Gail asked.
“Plenty.”
“Like those, but human sized.”
“There’s a bit more to that, but that’s the brief notes.” Ergo said.
“Can you kill them the same as leeches?”
“Fire doesn’t work; it has a hardened shell that protects it from the elements. Only liquids get through.”
“So we can drown it?”
“That’s one option, if there’s a lot of liquid nearby. It doesn’t take a lot of alcohol to kill it though.” Ergo looked at Gail, who had glasses full on his belt.
“Ugh, you’re lucky I’ve got a few that aren’t vintage.”
The cave was up a hill a mile of the village. To enter, one had to pass through the waterfall that blocked the entrance, but there was a secondary entrance, one made by the monster, that the group lingered at.
“So will the alcohol alone kill it, or are we going to burn it?”
“Alcohol alone will be enough. It'll be dead within a minute, and it’ll only make our lives harder.”
“Last thing you want is a fire inside a cave.” Gail said. “You’ll choke yourself and everyone else out.”
“Including the hirudostrum?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Can’t we choke it out then, and then throw alcohol on it when it escapes, instead of going in?”
“That’s a good idea actually. Let’s get a fire started.”
In the next 30 minutes, a fire was started, the cave was filled with smoke, and the worm had escaped in the exit it had made. It died -by technically of drowning- after teaching the bottom of the hill. Only Jacob was surprised how easy it was, as he had previously expected a fight.
“You look shocked. Didn’t think it would be that easy?” Ergo asked.
Jacob nodded his head. “When the Elder said several people had died, I was expecting a hard fight.”
“That’s what you get with the brave and inexperienced. Most people would try to burn the monster, though it looks like this group didn’t even know that.” There was a tint of regret in Gail’s voice.
“Well, all that matters now is that the village will be safe for a time.”
“Do you think the Lord Pulcha’s have tracked them down?”
“Is that what they’ll do?” Jacob asked.
“Better them than us. The lupens might not take kindly to humans right now.”
“It is not that.” A familiar voice came from above the cave. “It is just that they will listen to them more than you.”
All three looked up at the same time.
“Ah, you. I guess you would know. Why are you here?”
“Curiosity.”
“Ah, well, we’re alive, as you see.”
“Curious on how you would handle it.”
“How would you have killed it?” Jacob asked.
“Quickly.”
“With your claws?”
“Yes.” They said, as though the answer was obvious.
“Hm, well, we’re heading back to the village now. Will you linger about?”
“Likely.”
“Alright, keep an ear out then.”
“Hang on, why don’t we bring them back.” Jacob said, knowing the reason they couldn’t but still wanted to offer a suggestion regardless. “We can give them credit for helping out. Might help calm the tension.”
“Or elevate it.” Ergo said. “I get where you are coming from Jacob, but I can see even more trouble ensuring if we did that.”
“It could even confuse them.” Gail said. “And besides, one lupen fixing an issue an entire pack caused won’t help.”
“‘Course it can. It shows not all lupens are looking to cause trouble. Not to say the others caused trouble, but it’ll be harder to convince them of that, won’t it?”
Gail and Ergo shared a conflicted look between them. It was a risky move, and while both of them believed there could be a chance, without a Pulcha's presence, it could put all of them at risk of being attacked.
“If you won’t take risks, then was there really a point in organising a group?” The lupen spoke, still atop the cave.
“Our original purpose is to protect, not to bring trouble.”
“Then why did the Pulcha’s bring me along?”
“They have their reasons.”
“They also had their reason then to bring each of you. Did you find any dead bodies in there?” They clawed the cave, dropping down easily from the height. “Have a look.”
“I guess we should take them back.”
The cave wasn’t nearly as big as expected, and it was more empty than it should have been.
“Er, do hirudostrum’s eat their prey?”
“No, just suck all the blood out. They leave the bones and skins.” Even Ergo was perplexed. “Not sure why the Elder lied about sending people.”
“Worried they appeared as weak.” Jacob said. “I’ve overheard it before.”
“Aye, if only they voiced their weakness. Perhaps none of this would’ve happened.”
“It would have happened regardless.” The lupen said, still at the entrance. “All this was a test. Each of you responded as expected.”
“Huh? So there wasn’t an attack?”
“Oh, yes, there was. My family did come through, all that is true, but your assistance here was not required.”
“Does the village know you’re here?” Jacob asked.
“No.”
“Still a risk then.”
“One you should take. Audrey was sure it would work out.”
“See?” Jacob said with a bit of excitement.
The two men sighed. “Okay, okay.”
“I’m starting to understand what you meant by each of us having a reason for being here.” Ergo said.
“Took you that long.” Gail said.
“Don’t you two start again. Come on.”