By the time daybreak occurred I’d managed to get the wood carved into a rough shape, it wasn’t all that good of a piece, since I was literally just scraping at it with no particular image in mind. It had ended up passing through several stages, I tossed it away, putting my gauntlets back on.

This time they were awake and ready, greeting me with a determined nod. “Good. Always remember, you can’t do your job if you’re dead.” I said, leading the way down the stairs. “We’ll be scouting out the area first, don’t want to go into anything we’re not ready for.” Something I wish I could live by… I’d rather not have their deaths on my conscience, better to play it safe.

They listened intently to me as we left the building. I shut up as we approached the forest, settling into silence. Maria was a good hunter, quickly finding the tracks of the dire beasts that led from the roads. We had missed them on our way here, which was good… Should’ve thought of that, probably shouldn’t have pushed them so hard…

[What’s done is done, and if it came down to it you could likely have chased them off yourself.] Page answered. [They would still have to do the culling with your aid.]

Would probably have been a lot harder though. I thought back, watching as Maria picked her way ahead of us. Qen would occasionally look over to me with surprise as we continued, likely because of the silence that my armour navigated in. Occasionally it would give a faint scratching noise as the metallic edges rubbed against the padding, but even that was hardly above a whisper.

I wasn’t going to be doing the tracking though, Maria was better than me at it, and I honestly wasn’t that used to the armour yet. She was definitely keeping us downwind. The tracks seemed to be a menagerie of creatures, I recognized dire wolves, a dire bear, even several dire lynxes. That’s definitely odd. I thought to myself, they mostly didn’t associate with one another, preferring to keep their own groups… Something is driving them this time… Have to be careful.

Maria herself seemed mindful of this as well, carefully scouting ahead and keeping us well clear of other hazards in the forests. I kept my pick ready, the sword too unwieldly to use as I crept along behind them. I should have gotten a two-handed weapon for myself… I thought to myself. Armoured as I was I had no use for a shield, and dual wielding was not exactly the most useful way to capitalize on my free hand… Not to mention I’d never trained for having a pick in the other hand…

It was these thoughts that crowded my mind as we moved deeper into the forest, before Maria stopped us. Creeping back into view from the shadows, she motioned forward, gesturing towards a clearing that opened up in front of us. We crawled forward on our stomachs, lifting our heads to look once we’d come close enough.

Some dire beasts gathered in the clearing, separated into cohorts by their species. Even so, the normally solitary ones like bears and lynxes were on guard. Their bodies tense as they sat away even from their own. Ragtag bunch… I thought to myself. Who’s leading them?

The ones in packs had guards that circled their territory, low growls coming up as they passed the other groups on their patrol. The packs themselves seemed to be a mix of many others, several pack leaders stood out amongst them, a certain truce seemed to be in order. The leaders stood with more confidence than the others, watching their pack with sharp eyes.

We retreated after watching them for a while longer. “That’s probably not their whole force.” I whispered, as we flattened ourselves against the ground a short distance away, to hide from the sentries. “There’s probably scouts out there and another contingent that’s raiding as we speak. This… looks worse than I expected.” I explained. “Not really a simple extermination anymore…”

“We’re still going to complete it.” Qen said with steely conviction. “We took the job, we should see it through.” Easy for you to say… I thought, sighing inwardly.

I grimaced. “If it were any other time I’d tell you that there is a time for bravado and a time for the better part of valour. Unfortunately we’ve got a bad situation on hand and not a lot of time to call in stronger and more adaptable manpower…” I sighed. “This one’s going to be fun… We need to prepare the battlefield before we start, there’s a slim chance that if we find and take out their leader they might disperse, but it’s unlikely, they probably have their own reasons for following them.”

They looked at me curiously. “Are they… that smart?” Qen asked. “I mean no offence, but they are just beasts. Do they really think beyond survival?” His eyebrows drew together, curious but also disbelieving. Maria also looked uncertain as well, though she kept quiet, the only response simply a wavering expression.

I nodded, understanding his disbelief, most contact with dire beasts were conflict, hardly a time to assess their cognition, barter or otherwise. “They understand human speech at least.” I explained. “And considering the fact that they are gathered here even when they clearly don’t feel safe around each other, I’d assume they have a good personal reason for it.”

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They nodded at that, satisfied with my answer, we retreated further away, scouting out the rest of the area, a plan beginning to hatch as we discussed our options. It would be easy enough to entice them into chasing us, they knew these woods well, that confidence would be critical. But familiarity means nothing when you change the board. We only need know our little slice of heaven…

We saw the changes in their groups, others coming in and swapping out, we had plans for the ones travelling beyond the clearing as well, but first we needed to remove the main encampment of dire beasts. Once we had finished though, we waited. I wanted to be absolutely sure we’d catch the mastermind of this plot, and that required us to see this mastermind. We would shift periodically, dodging the perimeter patrols that circled the clearing.

Maria and Qen suddenly shuddered beside me. My head snapped towards them. “What is it?” I asked, whispering urgently beneath my breath. No wind had blown in, the air was warm, neither chilly nor wet. They didn’t respond, breathing heavily and bracing themselves against the ground. As a collective shudder passed across the dire beasts, my heart sank into my stomach. Edratchi, this must be that damned aura I’ve heard so much about. I thought, gritting my teeth. “Can you move? Nod yes or shake your head.”

They nodded stiffly, trembling against the presence. I Delved to see where the demon was, and an enormous presence manifested, its path taking it almost twenty metres from our position. I motioned for them to stay still, then realized they had shut their eyes. “Don’t move until I tell you to.” I whispered, straining my eyes to see the body of the demon through the forest.

Something emerged into the clearing, a mass of flesh, bones and skin. It had many animalistic characteristics: Hooves on its feet, mandibles, fur, and even compound eyes. A pair of insectoid wings were folded onto its back. A tide of revulsion rose within me. What the hell is that? I thought.

[Another type of Edratchi? Perhaps it makes sense to have more than a single species if the world is so chaotic?] Page conjectured, I could picture them drawing their brows together in consternation. [If so… What other forms could they take?]

That has disturbing implications… I thought, staring at the grotesque monstrosity before me. “I need you two to leave, this is… far too much for you to take right now.” I muttered under my breath. “Those are the demons, they’re supposed to be at the war front… Another strike at the heart?”

They nodded again, and I had to remind them to move slowly as they left. “Can I borrow your bow?” I asked Maria. She stared at the creature, then turned to me. I nodded. “I know… Here.” I said, passing her several brass siqs. “If I don’t bring this back to you, get yourself something good.” She seemed to open her mouth to object, but passed me her bow and quiver. “Thank you.” I said.

As they left I drew several arrows from the quiver, jamming them into the ground within easy reach. I watched as it circled the groups, whose hackles raised involuntarily, though others simply whined and rolled over. They should have gotten far enough away. I thought to myself, taking a deep breath. Hope I haven’t lost my touch. I thought, rolling the string between my index finger and thumb.

At this distance had a very small window of opportunity, the trees grew together, and even at this vantage point my arrow would have to pass through several gaps. I shifted closer, the Edratchi seemed to be talking to them, it reached out and clutched a dire lynx’s head in its oversized hand, cradling it and crushing it at the same time. I nocked my arrow and took a breath.

Draw. I stood, drawing the bow with my back, the bow was weaker than what I had used in the army, but then again range wasn’t the main thing they needed anyway. Aim. I felt for the right angle. The tension wasn’t right and the bow wasn’t perfect. It’ll do. I thought. Release. I breathed out, releasing the arrow in one swift movement.

There wasn’t much of the creature that wasn’t covered in chitin or scales. The joints were definitely too small for me to strike, and it was moving often enough that that would be nigh impossible. That left me with few options, but one stood out over the others. The arrow jammed itself into the creature’s skull, it howled in pain, reaching up to rip the arrow from its eye. I nocked another arrow. Draw. Release. This one bounced against the thick chitin of its skull, scoring a mark, but nothing else. It turned in my direction, pointing and screeching at the dire beasts.

I started running, circling in the forest, they’d waste precious time running towards me, maybe even enough that I could assault the Edratchi alone… The foliage worked to my advantage, obscuring my form and breaking up my shadows. The Edratchi was following behind, it had healed the arrow wound. I grimaced, this would require a personal touch…

The dire beasts had found my scent, half of them broke off from the main group, moving along the other scent trail. Dammit! I thought, hoping that Maria and Qen had managed to get far enough away. I charged towards the Edratchi, discarding the bow and drawing the Aen. It flared to life as I leapt at it, pushing the blade deep into its chest. It howled a bloodcurdling scream.

I pushed off, holding the Aen in an ice-pick grip, other arm outstretched. I swung it’s claws at me, the air itself lashing against my body as it did so. I stumbled, my armour not heavy enough to anchor me. It pounced, pumping flames towards me, and I deflected it aside, its claws raking across metallic pieces. I turned the motion into a horizontal roll as the flames scorched part of my arm through the no longer airtight armour. I grimaced, ducking to sweep its feet out from under it.

It fell with a screech, and the earth around me turned to mud. I stomped towards the creature, jamming the Aen into its chest to seek its heart. It flailed, knocking me away, but its movements were sluggish now, weak. Delving showed tears in the soul that were weakly healing, I was doing damage.

The other dire beasts had surrounded us now, but they seemed hesitant to join the fray. Hopefully it’s because they don’t actually want to follow the bastard. I thought, drawing my pick with my left hand. For now it’s just you and me. I smiled grimly. I’m going to try not to enjoy this.