As the horde of rabbits started diving into the meadow to plunder it, I brought the bucket closer to the edge to help my guy out. I watched them, expecting them to dive into the center for the biggest flowers, but instead, they stayed out towards the periphery and nibbled at the edges. Each rabbit seemed to dash in, take a flower of their choice, and then dash back out to the woods, where they would leave their plunder in an individual pile while returning for more. I immediately started feeling an itch in the back of my head.
I love a good puzzle or mystery and I had a feeling that there had to be something going on here that was causing so many of these flowers which two groups of natives seemed to find value in. The first thought that seemed obvious to me was that it was something dangerous, the center of the glade was practically overgrown with specimens that were ten times the size of the ones that the rabbits were going after, and yet not a single one had the slightest inclination to try to even get close. Secondly, despite being in the goblin territory, there were goblins wandering around the forest looking for flowers that were growing outside of this special glade.
This led me to the blinding conclusion that there was something dangerous in the middle and it was either off limits to the goblins because too many died here or that the powerhouses of the tribe used this for their own special little club and kept the runts away. Or, most probable of all, it was some combination of the two. Seeing my little guy dashing back and forth filling the bucket for all he was worth, I was tempted to head towards the middle and find out. I have basically all the equipment I had left in this world, so I was probably as prepared as I was going to be. But caution won out in the end, my ribs were still hurting and I didn’t think I could take on a horde of goblin elites.
Thinking that there still had to be a bunch of them with the remainder of the tribe and if they weren’t willing to take on whatever guarded the middle then the likelihood of me coming out on top was probably not as high as my pride would have me believe. I know that isn’t the answer that is expected of a Terran stuck on another world. The correct thing to do is dive head first into the middle, outsmart the guardian, and plunder for all I was worth. No doubt there is a spacial ring just waiting for me to find, and my cowardice is going to leave it on the table. But until I had figured out even the smallest basics of how magic worked in this new universe of mine, I was leaving the questionable powerups alone for now.
I already had half of the bucket coming to me and I had no idea what to use it for other than to take a long nap. Getting myself seriously killed or injured for rabbit food seemed like a foolish chance to take. Looking around it seemed like most of the rabbits had gathered up their piles, while mine was still working away at filling the bucket. Seeing them nervously stand around, I told Gaian to tell him to recruit a helper or two because we were leaving in the next couple of minutes. We had already run into one patrol and I doubted I had it in me to take out any more of the calvary, while I was sure the bear and I would have no trouble destroying the fodder goblins. They were called that for a reason. If the next patrol had an elite or two with it, the situation would no doubt be much more dire.
Our guide started screeching indignantly at the bear, despite being outmassed by a factor of a hundred, it seemed he had no intention of leaving money on the table. Refusing to be held hostage by an overgrown rodent and getting more and more nervous that my earlier greed was just inviting the universe to throw some complications my way I said. “Blank it, we’re leaving!”
Picking up the bucket, I said over my shoulder to the bear, “Come on Gaian, if he wants to stay he’s more than welcome to it.” As the Ursoid didn’t seem to care one way or the other, he shrugged and started following along behind me. Screeching shrilly the rabbit bounded up to me, I could only assume demanding that I stop and uphold my end of the bargain.
Lowering my spear I pointed it at him too, which had the intended effect of shutting him up and getting him to freeze. “The deal was you get half of whatever ended up in the bucket, I told you to recruit friends, but you got greedy. Well, the bucket is going back now, and if you keep calling out to the goblins, then you can be here to answer them, but the rest of us sure as blank won’t be.” As my companion translated, I continued to walk off, in the direction I knew would leave the woods. I was making a straight shot for the nearest section of grassland as I would be much happier if we could see what was coming at us rather than possibly walk into an ambush on enemy turf.
I heard one abortive squeak, and looking back I saw that apparently, the bear’s raised paw had cut him off before he could continue. All of the rest of the rabbits had already gathered up their piles of loot and were following along behind me. So the one I had made a deal with made a mad dash back to the edge of the glen to harvest a few more of his own before sprinting to catch up to the rest of us. It was easier than it sounded as Gaian really wasn’t built for speed.
When he came up even with me, he started to head back the way we came, when I made no move to follow him he started to loudly demand I follow his instructions, only to once more be cut off by a lowered spear. “I’m getting a bad feeling,” I said in way of explanation. “We’re heading out to where we can see what is coming at us.” Despite his insisting, I ignored him as the heaviness in my stomach only seemed to be increasing. Picking up the pace, the rabbit army had no problem keeping up, but the bear had to break into a trot.
I didn’t have any rational explanation for the feeling coming from my gut, but sticking around for a single entity’s greed just to prove to myself I wasn’t superstitious struck me as foolish. I have had hunches pay off in the past and I have also been made to look foolish. I couldn’t even begin to scratch the surface of how this world worked so for now I had no problem letting my gut lead the way. My previous examination of the cores gave me a slight clue, but nothing I was willing to go out on a limb yet with such a small sample size. The worst thing you can ever do when trying to figure out a problem is decide you’ve figured out the starting point, all that does is prejudice you to a certain line and cut out infinite other possibilities.
I very well could be making a mistake by not following the natives, my stomach was certainly screaming at me that we were going to be missing out on a huge harvest of meat if we went this way, while my inner loot hoarder kept babbling that we were leaving cores behind as well. All of that was true but I continued on my path despite all of their arguments. Yes, there was a good chance that almost being taken out by a dragon the day before was heavily influencing my choices, so what? It didn’t look like this forest was going to start running out of goblins anytime soon. I had already negotiated for three more days of room and board, so if I wanted to come back again, there wasn’t anything stopping me. But if I got my charges wiped out because I was being greedy, however, then that shelter and three days grace to figure things out would no doubt dissipate.
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So much of my time in this world had just been spent reacting and trying to gather the means to be sure of my survival and how had that worked out for me? On one hand, half the team had gotten a major powerup, but on the other everything that I had planned on using to ensure we had what we needed to live had been taken from us by a power I couldn’t even begin to fathom. Leaving me with even more questions than I could hope to answer. So far all I had been able to infer from the rabbit’s willingness to treat with us was that there was some form of humanity on this world and they all weren’t bad in the rabbit’s book. While I doubted the same could be said of the greenskins.
Ten minutes into our retreat, and I was starting to feel the slightest stitch in my side, slowing down to a walk, I began to try to breathe deep and slowly to keep myself from hyperventilating. As the rabbits and bear also slowed down, I continued to hear a crashing coming from the woods. It seemed to be coming from an angle between where we had encountered the patrol and the glen. Not wanting to stick around for round two, I ignored the stitch and started jogging again. Followed by more horde of rabbits, I quickly realized they had caught on to the fact that something was following us, judging by the way they quickly scattered and left the bear and me behind.
It didn’t seem like loyalty or group tactics were something that was a specialty of the purple-eyed variety of Leporidae, or at least not at the level my escortees were at. Happy I had stated that if any abandoned the group I couldn’t be held responsible for their safety, I focused on keeping up my own pace to make it out myself. With no end to the wood in sight, I realized that at the pace the sound was catching up, it wasn’t looking good that I would make it. Gasping out to the bear, I said. “You go ahead, I know you’ve got another gear in you!”
When it seemed like he wasn’t inclined to listen, I told him not to be stupid while looking for another good pine to hide in. “The best thing you can do for me is make a lot of noise as you make your run for it! Most likely they will follow you and have no idea I am still back here.”
With some obvious unhappiness, the bear seemed to realize that by staying he was just painting a bigger target on the both of us. I held out the bucket to him in case the herbs had a fragrance that the goblins could track. Taking it in his jaw he turned and started dashing away, I knew bears were fast intellectually, but having never seen one charge at a sprint before, seeing it for the first time really hit home how outclassed I was and lucky to have him on my team. There was no doubt in my mind that the only thing I had going for me was my supposed intelligence, and his being able to figure out magic before me was really calling that into question.
As I heard him crashing through the woods in his sprint, I realized he was being almost obnoxiously loud most likely to help the enemy zero in on him and draw them away from me. Finding a pine to hide in, I did my best to slow my breathing down so my gasping for air wouldn’t give away the game.
As I crouched in the pine bows, with my spear leaning up against the trunk so its gleaming blade wouldn’t catch the light and signal where my hiding spot was, I could feel the ground start to pound as our pursuers started to race by. The first to go by was a cluster of eight riders and their tusked mounts, followed quickly by what looked to be twenty of the bashers sans shields, no doubt they had been left behind to save weight so they could keep up with the trotting trotters.
It took several more minutes, but eventually, another group started past my hiding spot. Counting quickly, I made out ten spear goblins, an equal number of archers, three of which even had quivers. Capping off the group, there were two of the shamans, neither of which seemed to have the sacrifice that the previous one I had encountered had used. Taking back my previous summation I saw the actual leader appear, he was jogging slightly behind the rest of his fellows.
This guy was definitely part of the ruling class of goblins, standing at what looked to be a massive four-foot eight, this monstrosity looked like even without his red-plumed helmet he would stand even with my shoulder. Wearing steel plated leather with only the slightest hint of rust, he carried what looked to be a well used short sword at his belt. Well short sword for me, for him the mechanics of his fighting style no doubt treated the weapon as a longsword.
Seeming to disdain carrying a shield, I had to wonder if it was because the greenskins considered it cowardly for their leaders or because it was too heavy for a chase on foot. Also, I wondered why he was on foot rather than mounted. Disdaining the idiot in the back of my mind saying, Well why not just ask him? I instead went with holding my breath, as the group lumbered past at a trot the soft magic users were clearly unhappy with.
After they had disappeared from both sight and sound, I still decided to wait, not wanting to make the fatal mistake of leaving my spot just to look up and see my fated adversary appear out of the bush from relieving himself. Continuing to listen carefully, I waited until I was sure no more of the greenskins were coming before grabbing my spear and taking a different angle back to the grasslands. When I eventually made it to the edge, I again paused before leaving cover to be sure there was nothing close by. When I felt I was safe, I left the cover of the woods at a crouching walk, keeping my spearhead low so that nothing was above the grassline. Heading straight out into the grasslands, I kept on that heading for at least a mile before turning and aiming for the Rabbit Wood.
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Finally arriving back at the Rabbit Wood with the planet high overhead in the sky, I was feeling, dusty, worn out, and ready for a drink. With alcohol a thing of the past I was just going to have to settle for some of the clear, no doubt lukewarm water that was waiting for me back at the burrow the rabbits had cleared out for us. But when I saw the crowd of purple eyed elders that were waiting just in the interior of the wood, I had a feeling my refreshments were going to have to wait.
Still, I felt I was going to have to try and put them on the back foot. It wouldn’t do to think that the little buggers could shove me around. So despite the fact that they started trying to herd me to where the meeting had gone down yesterday. I instead started walking in the direction of the abandoned burrows and my anticipated drink.
As several of the medium rabbits with purple eyes leaped to bar my way, I called out to the bear to let him know I was back. “Hey buddy, I hope they didn’t give you the same welcome party they are giving me?”
Lowering my spear at the offending hares, I left the threat there while being content to wait for backup. As one of them started gathering his paws beneath his body, I pointed my spear into the space in front of it, wondering if I was about to get a demonstration of the magic their eye color portended their holding.
As a haze started forming in front of its face, it abruptly cut off when a massive twenty-pound monster hopped out in front of it and screeched an order. With several more screeches, it sent the rest of the Fluffle running for cover. Staring me down, I quickly raised my spear, not willing to try intimidating the rabbit version of an old master. Speaking softly I said, “I’m just looking to freshen up, but you will have my report directly after that. I was promised food and shelter for fulfilling my part in protecting your herd and would hate to find out that rabbit kind would so easily renege on a deal.”
Continuing on the path to my resting spot with all the outward signs of being unperturbed, I could only hope that Gaian had made it back so I had his bulk to lean on in the upcoming meeting. I know it is ridiculous to say, but I found that bunny to be quite intimidating.