A knowing grin spread across Tiber's face as he heard Lucius' words. He took a sip of water from the canteen resting on the coffee table between them before responding.
"I thought you might be able to point us in the right direction. You're a very mysterious young man, Lucius. We could do some real damage to the goblins with that stealth ability of yours. Maybe if we’d had you around, we wouldn’t have been put in such a weak position—but it's too late to complain about that now."
Tiber leaned back in his seat, glancing over at Maryanne and Whisper before continuing.
"You must have more companions somewhere, correct? No one survives alone in this unforgiving new world. Are you willing to explain how you ended up like this, traveling through the forest in the dead of night, with a small child on your back no less."
Lucius ran his hand through his hair as he considered how much to share with his new acquaintances, deciding to keep his story vague for now.
"I have friends. There weren't many of us, so it wasn't that hard to escape the city. It will be much worse for your group, that many people will be impossible to hide. We settled down in a farmhouse nearby. This area is the best choice if we want to survive for any long period of time, food will become the most important resource soon. Because of my unique abilities, I chose to scout the area alone. That's how I ended up finding Maryanne. The reason we’re out so late is we were attacked during the day and never had time to find somewhere to spend the night."
Tiber listened to Lucius' story quietly, with his fingered steepled together below his chin, paying close attention to every detail the young man revealed.
"I see. Our thinking is the same as yours. We chose to search for a place to relocate out here because of the need to feed so many people. Our current supplies are dwindling, and we’ll need to rely on renewable sources of food soon. Do you know if any of the fields nearby still contain a salvageable crop?"
"Some do, most don’t. There are dozens of abandoned farms around the area, most with large barns as well. If you needed to, you could put a few hundred people in each barn. It wouldn’t be fancy, but it’s temporary. The people could build better shelters over time, work the fields to feed themselves, and rely on the soldiers to protect them and hunt for meat."
Lucius debated himself internally about whether he should bring Tiber and his men to the farm. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t be able to find it on their own anyway, and Lucius liked the idea of turning the area into a human settlement. As he considered the matter, Sense Danger sent a ripple of warning through his chest, and at the same instant, a loud whistle sounded above the house.
Tiber jumped to his feet at the sound, his calm expression replaced by a solemn stare as the lethal longsword appeared in his hand.
"That's Garrick! We’re under attack!"
Roland and Tiber dashed toward opposite sides of the house, each moving in the direction of a separate exit. This was obviously a tactic they used regularly in order to surround enemies, just as they had done to Lucius earlier. The twang of a taut string being released echoed, followed by the sharp whistle of something cutting through the air, and ending in a sound like a piece of meat being hit with a baseball bat.
MOOOOO
A deep, loud cry—reminiscent of a cow's bellow—spread through the chilly night air.
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Cracking noises, like a tree snapping in half, came next as the ground began to tremble. Matriarch's Fury appeared in Lucius' good hand as he glanced back at his small companions.
"Whisper! Protect Maryanne!"
Whisper looked back at him with a stern expression as he raised his small, winged arms, clenching his tiny fists in response.
"None shall harm the girl, Father!"
Lucius turned back toward the front and headed in the direction of the commotion, the shout of Garrick from above giving him some clue as to what they were facing.
"It's a goddamn Minotaur! My arrow barely scratched it!"
As Lucius stepped out the front door, it took him a moment to readjust to the darkness. Even so, he quickly discerned the dark outline of a massive creature, standing five or six meters tall. As his vision sharpened, he saw that, while the creature's body was humanoid in shape, it bore the cow-like head of a bull. Large horns jutted upward, their tips curving forward, mirroring the direction of its mouth.
The beast was naked, its shaggy brown hair mercifully concealing its private parts. What the hair couldn’t hide, however, were the rippling layers of muscle, stacked like mountains across its limbs, neck, and chest.
The Minotaur had knocked over a small tree and was now stepping on it just below the leaves. With a grunt of effort, it gripped the tree with its thick arms and lifted hard, making an angry snort. The tree stood no chance against the creature's raw power. Its leafy top snapped away, leaving the Minotaur holding a staff-like weapon perfectly suited to its massive size.
Roland and Tiber had cautiously approached while the monster was occupied, hesitating as they debated whether to engage the beast or attempt to escape.
Twang.
The sound of the bowstring echoed through the air once again, much louder than before. A glowing arrow blasted through the corner of Lucius' vision as he kept his eyes locked on the threat. The Minotaur glanced upward toward the noise in an incredibly unlucky coincidence, allowing the empowered arrow to perfectly strike its left eye.
MOOOOOO!
An ear-splitting bellow blasted out of the creature's mouth as it staggered back a step, reaching up with it's thick meaty fingers as it grasped the vibrating tail of the arrow. The beast ripped the projectile from its face, pulling out its own bloody eye in the process. It held the blood-soaked shaft up in front of itself like a macabre lollypop as it looked at it's own ruined organ. The Minotaur tossed the item aside as it glared down at the humans with a reddened, bloodshot remaining eye, clenching it's fist tightly as it snarled. The monster quickly raised its weapon up as it aimed toward the offending humans, slamming it heavily into the ground between them.
The floor rippled unnaturally from the impact, sending a wave of earth flooding out rapidly in all directions. Tiber nimbly dove over the wave, but Roland wasn’t as quick footed as his leader. The moving wall of earth crashed into the large man, dragging him along with it as it surged across the ground into the forest before collapsing. Roland was left half-buried but mostly uninjured, struggling hastily to free himself.
The Minotaur held the tree up in front of its face, shielding its remaining eye from incoming arrows, as it lumbered toward Tiber with heavy, earth-shaking steps. Lucius activated his Aspect and rushed forward to flank the creature as the splintering log came crashing down toward Tiber. The soldier was forced to retreat—dodging the tree itself wasn’t difficult, but avoiding the shockwave required him to move further from the epicenter. Tiber dashed back just far enough for the wave of earth to fully form, then dove over it again, charging forward before the Minotaur had yanked its weapon free from the ground.
The creatures hands were busy pulling on it's weapon, but a massive, muscular leg swung through the air toward the advancing soldier. Tiber rolled forward beneath the kick and thrust his sword up between the beast's legs, aiming to inflict a grievous wound. Before the blade could land, a long whip-like limb, tipped with a puff of fur, lashed down from the Minotaur’s back. Tiber hadn’t accounted for the tail in his plan of attack. He was forced to clumsily redirect his strike, turning the blade to defend against the approaching limb.
The tail struck Tiber’s powerful blade with incredible force, so much so that the appendage was severed in a single, swift motion. But the heavy tail continued its forward trajectory, slamming into Tiber's chest and striking his head. The blow knocked the soldier to the ground, disoriented and gasping for breath, just as the Minotaur’s massive cloven hoof came crashing down above him.