The mix of stagnant air and heavy humidity made it just a bit harder to breathe as Thistle and her team moved further and further away from HornLeaf and deeper into Nyblom Forest, a product of the thick mana in the area. She forced herself to take slow, careful breaths as she walked between Blade and Ashroot. Okay, nothing so far… She thought to herself, keeping an eye on Blade for any signals.
As elves in their 40s, they were a part of the patrol team to make sure Nyblom Forest wasn’t too overrun with wild growths or too many beasts mutated by the excess mana. Namely, they were to make sure no beasts were too close to possibly invade the village for food and resources and the plants didn’t threaten to choke out or poison any of the crop berries they grew nearby. An annoying job, but a necessary one. Which is why the village forced it onto any elf young enough to have free time and old enough to actually fight competently like Thistle and her team.
Such was a life of living in a mana-enriched area. While it had many benefits like accelerated plant growth and temperate weather even in winter, it had the downside of more aggressive animals and strange, hostile mutations that could end up harming the forest more than helping it. Not to mention the risk of overexposure to mana-rich areas having a toxic effect on beings that couldn’t properly channel or cultivate it. Mana was a blessing, but it could turn into a curse if not properly balanced. Hence, elves like Thistle’s team were to patrol the area and make sure things were fine.
The group traveled the well-walked patrol path, observing the trees and grounds. So far everything looked normal. All the trees were the proper colors of brown, black, and some spots of red trunks here and there, the leaves were their normal shade of green with a handful of black patches due to some trees transforming into manawood, and all the prey animals properly darted away from the sound of the loud patrol group as they should. With each sign of normalcy Thistle gave a mental check in her head, nodding at every major point of their patrol route. The forest trail was normal, the berry farm east of HornLeaf was growing at the proper rate, and as she spotted the Nyblom River in the far distance, Thistle was ready to tell her team to rest and refill their waterskins before heading back.
“Aaaand, another calm and quiet day.” Ashroot said, taking a swig of his waterskin as they walked. “Maybe we can get away with resting at the river for a bit longer today.”
“Yeah, no shit it’s quiet.” Sheath quipped, lazily twirling the short spears in her hand. “It’s so boring here. The Elders whine and moan about how dangerous border villages like ours are and I think they’re full of it. Seriously, you’d think we’d be fighting bears, wolves, and massive falcons everyday with how much they complain about this place.”
“Language, Sheath.” Thistle chided, getting an eyeroll and loud scoff from Sheath.
“Or what? You’ll tattle? Teww Ewdew Oakweaf I’ve bewn a bad giww an- ow!”
Thistle’s hand swung hard against Sheath’s skull in a knife-handed chop, the girl’s brown hair shooting upward from the impact.
Pine and Ashroot winced, Blade even started rubbing her own head at the sight.
“Ugh… I think I feel the pain too…” Blade grumbled. “Thanks a lot, Sheath…”
“First of all, that twin shared sensation thing’s bullshit. Second, piss off because you didn’t get the damn Thistle Thor- OW! Thistle, that freaking hurts!”
Thistle’s second chop hit in the exact same spot as before, this time much harder and with some windup. She shook her hand a little from the recoil, giving Sheath a glare. “Language,” She repeated.
“Stuck-up prick…” Sheath muttered, glaring back at Thistle. “You swear too…”
“Yes, but not on patrol.”
Sheath’s glare sharpened, and she shook her head and resettled her hair. “For the love of- Thistle, who else is even around to hear us?”
Thistle gave Sheath a deadpan expression. “We have to remain somewhat professional when we’re on duty. There’s being lax, and then there’s being foolish. What if another patrol or someone from the human settlements heard you swearing up a storm?”
Sheath gave Thistle a deadpan look in turn. “Humans don’t cross the river, and if you keep trying to pull rank to run your mouth at me to feed your ego I’m gonna’ hit you.”
Thistle gave Sheath a sharp glare, and Sheath glared back.
“Alright, girls.” Pine said, stepping between the two. “Think we can finish up our break and then check the river before heading back?”
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Thistle’s glare softened, then she looked to Pine. He gave a calm, but stern look. Right… this can be discussed later. Sheath’s constant backtalk and complaining was annoying, but it could be addressed afterwards. Besides, she was digging into the girl a little too much for such a calm day. Easing up a bit wouldn’t hurt, especially given the lax start to patrol. She nodded to Pine. “Yeah, let’s get to the river and restock our waterskins. We can take another short break before going back via the southern side.”
The group all visibly relaxed with the new orders, slowly falling into position as Pine moved forward to lead the group.
It was another few yards from the river when Blade rose a hand.
“Wait.” She whispered, making a quick bird call before a small sparrow approached and perched itself on her shoulders. It chirped softly into Blade’s ear and she nodded, turning to Thistle. “There are wolves up ahead near the river. Led by a pretty big one too.”
Thistle nodded. The nice thing about Blade was that her spells and magical talents were toward manipulating and communicating with nature. Influencing flora, communicating with fauna, and even forming minor contracts with creatures to do her bidding. Her abilities to talk and exchange favors with animals gave the Thistle Thorns a lot of flexibility and advantages in their patrols and made her an excellent scout that didn’t even need to be in the front. As for the wolves, they were a normal sighting in the forest, so that wasn’t too odd. But it was also important not to disturb and interfere with nature unless necessary. They weren’t hunting this morning, despite Ashroot’s previous comments, so when they got close enough to see the creatures’ silhouettes, they paused. True to Blade’s intel there was a very large wolf among them.
However, the wolf wasn’t just large, it was bipedal.
Standing, actually standing, about two heads taller than even Pine, the wolf was a massive, lithe figure of black and gray fur. Its yellow eyes had a somewhat human quality to them, gleaming with intelligence as it watched over its pack quenching their thirst. It walked, no, paced around the pack, looking with stern eyes as it growled something and had a group of five wolves pull away to let another five take a drink.
The patrol group immediately hid behind various trees and bushes, trying to wait out the pack.
Thistle and Blade stole quick peaks at the riverside, seeing the massive wolf sniff the air. It whirled its head in their direction and Thistle felt sweat build on her forehead. It noticed them. It definitely noticed them. Both Thistle and Blade looked at each other with worried expressions, Blade giving a slow shake of her head, her hands signaling her and the group to remain still. The pack leader might have noticed them, but it didn’t move to do anything yet.
And soon, they all heard the shuffled movement of paws scurrying away from the river.
The two gave a sigh of relief and Thistle signaled the group to move out.
“Sweet, no more hiding.” Sheath said.
“Gods, did you see the size of that thing? Must have ate some deer chock-full of mana from a plant or something. Or maybe has a den with some mana stone in it.” Pine said. “We definitely need to tell the elders about it. Not sure we wanna’ keep something like that around.”
“Hm, I’m not sure about that.” Ashroot said. “I don’t think that pack will do anything bad. It’s just a big wolf that can walk.”
“I’m with Pine on this one.” Thistle said. “Bipedal predators can be pretty dangerous and overhunt all the prey animals if we let them reproduce. Unless the prey animals develop similar mutations and elements to keep the numbers steady. And… that one looked real intelligent. Creatures like that always cause trouble and try to attack the village. Remember that one massive owl three years ago that tried stealing kids every night?”
Ashroot frowned, shivering at the memory, but still continued. “Maybe its intelligent enough to know its limits for the forest to maintain itself?” He mused.
“Bah, listen to this lug.” Pine said, throwing his hands up. “Weren’t you talking about hunting half an hour ago?”
Ashroot shrugged. “That’s for food and maybe a little fun. I’m just saying we shouldn’t have a kill order on everything that’s different.”
Thistle frowned. “I get you, but this is something for the elders to debate, not us.”
Ashroot sighed but relented. “If you say so, Thistle.” He said, starting to fill his waterskin from the river.
Blade scooted herself toward Ashroot, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry Ashroot, if it helps the elders’ll probably debate for a month or two until giving the kill order. We can observe the packs habits an-”
A shift in the bushes cut off Blade’s words, and a small wolf hopped out to attack.
Sheath moved first, her body a blur as she was in front of her twin sister and stabbing the wolf with one of her spears. The blow was light, but it got the wolf in the front leg. It whined in pain and quickly started to limp away, growling at the group as it retreated.
“Why did it attack us?” Pine said, bringing his spear up and moving to protect Thistle and Blade.
“I don’t know.” Blade said in a hushed, worried tone, standing and bringing her quarterstaff in a defensive position. “Wolves don’t usually attack randomly like that unle-”
Three more wolves came out in a pincer formation, two of them focusing toward Ashroot as he immediately dropped his waterskin in the river and brought his large shield forward. The two of the wolves slammed into it, caught off guard by the sudden barrier between them. The third on his right was forced back by a kick from Thistle, her hands up in a defensive position as she settled into a fighting stance, palms out and steady on her feet. Ashroot only let out a sigh of relief.
“You were right, Thistle, this thing really does help.”
Thistle nodded, her eyes shifting to the trees in front of them. She saw it, a glimmer of yellow behind the trees and leaves. The clear and decerning eyes of a very intelligent creature watching a planned assault. The look of a predator observing and testing possible prey.
Thistle frowned. “Ugh… shit.” She heard Sheath give a short snicker, but before she could admonish her two more wolves came from the side. “Everyone! Formations!”