Night fell on the farm, the cattle spread thinly across the open field and Aralen and Penora nowhere to be seen. They instead sat inside the storage room of the farmhouse, Aralen watching through the window for movement and Penora sitting at the table, eyes closed and concentrating hard.
They had been like that for several hours at that point, and the duo was getting tired. Aralen suspected the dryad had dozed off several times over the course of the night, but when he called out to her she always opened her eyes slowly and insisted she had been awake. Thankfully, it hadn’t been an issue so far, with no sign of any fire-breathing reptiles on the farm, and the cattle all slept peacefully.
It didn’t last forever, however, as Aralen started seeing distant silhouettes on the outskirts of the farm, only illuminated by the moon overhead. They were quick and low to the ground, darting in and out of his view as they passed fences, bushes, or clusters of grass.
“They’re here,” he said to Penora, who luckily wasn’t asleep at that moment as she nodded. Her brows furrowed and Aralen turned back to watch the field, where several of the creatures had begun leaping over the fence, clearing it easily. Even as they stalked through the field, with more still hopping the fence, he couldn’t tell what exactly they were.
His best bet was red lizardwolves, though, which also were the most difficult to deal with. Not that they were particularly dangerous, in fact, fire drakes had them beaten on every account. No, what he was worried about was stopping them permanently. Lizardwolves were known for their large families, which often split up to hunt, meaning even if you cleared out a large group another would take its place afterward. To really stop lizardwolves, you needed to track them to their nest and stop them at the source.
Most of the silhouettes had made their way into the pen at this point, and Aralen felt it was time to spring their trap. “Now!” he said to Penora, and outside a wall of vines and grass rapidly grew, encircling the entire field and stopping any more beasts in or out. From his spot inside the farmhouse, he could see flames licking up the growths, trying to burn through them and escape, but Penora’s magic was too strong, and more roots replaced the burnt ones. However, the light from the flames confirmed Aralen’s suspicions.
The lizardwolves were a deep red, matching the color of dried blood, and the flicker of the flame’s light showed off their long, reptilian snout and flat, clawed feet. They were about the size of a large dog, if a little shorter, and the top of their body was covered in small spines. A long tail protruded from their back, made of a cluster of short spikes bundled together, imitating a bushy tail. There were at least half a dozen inside the wall of plants, with a handful more outside, but the trap had more or less worked. Rounding up the creatures and preventing their escape allowed Aralen to clear out a large chunk of them, and the remaining should retreat to their den, where he could follow the next day. However, this did mean that those inside the trap were still a danger to the cattle, and Aralen quickly ran out of the farmhouse with Penora lagging behind.
Luckily, the distraction of the wall of vines was enough to prevent the lizardwolves from attacking the cattle so far, with their attention solely on the plants keeping them trapped. The wall of plants was slowly getting whittled down, though, as Penora’s presence beside him meant her concentration was waning. He quickened his pace across the field, and soon he was nearing the crowd of monsters, though his footsteps through the grass and mud were attracting attention from the nearest lizardwolves.
Two of the nearer beasts turned their attention from the vines and towards the elf, hissing menacingly with forked tongues darting out. While the fires the creatures had started were small and mostly centered around the plant wall, the heat and smoke were still starting to fill the air, and Aralen knew he had to take care of these creatures quickly.
His spear in hand and Penora behind him, he warily faced off with the pair of reptiles. They began to circle him cautiously, eying his spear with their slitted, golden-brown eyes and making sure to stay out of its range. Thankfully, despite their namesake, they were much slower than actual wolves, their flatter, low-to-the-ground body making quicker movements much more difficult. Even still, they were fast, and one darted forward with a snarl, causing Aralen to strike out with his spear. It was a fake, though, as it aborted with a dash to the side and dodged the spear, while the second lizardwolf leaped forward, jaws open for an attack.
It was met with the foot of Penora colliding strongly against the side of its head, sending it staggering off and leaving it open for a quick stab from Aralen, skewering the poor beast in an instant. The training from Rylei had paid off, as he easily pinpointed the softer leather around the creature’s neck and aimed true, his thrust strong and precise.
The second reptile tried to attack while Aralen was pulling his spear from the other lizardwolf’s neck, but Penora was there again, though this time her kick was only powerful enough to stop its attack, instead of knocking it away entirely. It did still give the elf enough time to safely retreat from the other lizardwolf’s corpse, and he readied his spear for another attack.
Unfortunately, the other attack wasn’t affected at all by how ready his spear was, because instead of jumping at him with its fangs or claws, it chose to spew a stream of flames straight at the elf. He was forced to jump to the side, but he only temporarily got out of the range of the fire breath. The lizard continued its attack, following his movements with the flames and forcing him to keep moving. It was difficult to get into the range of the lizardwolf without the fires singeing him, so he instead tried to move to give Penora an opening. It seemed to work, as the creature turned away from the dryad as it followed Aralen with its head, and Penora took the opportunity to strike it again with her foot, though she seemed tired, and her attack was weak. Regardless, it still stopped the flames, and Aralen was able to spear the lizardwolf similarly to the last.
“Penora, are you alright?” he asked as she stood shakily, breathing heavily.
“I’m alright, Darling. Just a little tired, is all,” she responded, though he could tell she was putting up a facade. It was dark, after all, and she had said before that she got tired quickly outside of sunlight. Compounding that issue was the vine wall, and all the energy and concentration it must be taking for her to keep it upright while they cleared out the lizardwolves, and suddenly it was obvious that she wouldn’t be at her usual one hundred percent.
Mentally, Aralen was kicking himself. Such an obvious oversight on his part, especially when he was relying on Penora for this mission to be successful. Her status as a monster girl, and the increased power that came alongside it, didn’t mean that she didn’t have her own weaknesses or limits. His mind was scrambling to a solution that didn’t rely entirely on her while also not consisting of him solo-ing the rest of the lizardwolves.
Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t granted any downtime to think, as another trio of the creatures had taken notice of their fallen brethren and were starting to creep nearer. He raised his spear yet again, preparing for another close fight while Penora stood behind him, looking determined but tired. This time, the lizardwolves didn’t even bother with physically attacking, as two of them started their assault with fire breath. He jumped backward, just out of the range of the fire, but the third lizardwolf followed and tried to catch him with a bite. He swung in retaliation, only to realize it was another feint as it dodged backward and one of the other lizardwolves attacked with fire again, catching his arm as it lunged forward with the spear.
The fire licking at his arm was painful, drawing out a yell of pain, but it didn’t last for long as he pulled his arm away. A nasty-looking burn mark and a singed hole in his sleeve were the entirety of the damage, but it was enough for him to hesitate slightly as another lizardwolf darted in, its jaw wide open and fangs shining in the moonlight.
The fangs sunk into Aralen’s calf, causing another yell, but fortunately for him, this time his assailant was within striking distance. Despite the pain in his arm causing his attack to be slightly off target, the adrenaline shooting through him allowed him to manage to pierce the thick scaled hide of the creature and stab through its chest. It cried out in a horrible screech and began thrashing about, thankfully releasing his leg in the process, and Aralen finished it off with a slightly better placed thrust.
The other two lizardwolves didn’t just wait around for him to do that, though, and one leaped forward while the other tried to bathe them in fire. Even in his injured state, Aralen’s elven grace was enough for him to evade the fire and the leaping reptile, though he didn’t account for the spined tail of the beast as he jumped to its side. Despite the spines not actually being all that sharp, the force of the long, bristled tail colliding with his already injured leg was enough to send him sprawling onto the soil.
Laying there in the dirt, dazed from the fall, he barely reacted to the lizardwolf rushing in to finish the job, rolling out of the way of its jaws just in time. He was breathing heavily at this point, trying his hardest to ignore the biting pain of the burn or the throbbing in his leg, but it was slowly catching up to him. The red reptile jumped at him again, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to roll out of the way in time. Bracing himself, he prepared to wrestle the creature away from him, but it never came.
Instead, he watched it get lifted into the air by several vines, wrapping and constricting around it like a snake. It thrashed and writhed as it tried to free itself, shooting flames out haphazardly, but they were persistent, holding it firmly in place and giving Aralen time to stand up. The third lizardwolf, still a distance away, watched its fellow monster in fear and confusion, seemingly torn between helping and escaping from the new threat. Aralen used the distraction to close the distance and execute it quickly, a final thrust into its scales to end the creature as the vine-trapped reptile’s movements slowed as it was suffocated to death.
Penora was standing nearby, her hand still outstretched as the vines continued to constrict until she was sure it was dead, then she slumped down to the ground, clearly having pushed past her limits. Behind her, the wall of vines that had so successfully kept the lizardwolves from crossing it was withering and smoldering as the remaining couple of reptiles inside the field jumped out, having realized most of their pack was defeated. Aralen was thankful for that, though, as he did not feel fit to fight off any more of the creatures, and Penora’s save had come in at the perfect moment, even if it only made their job more difficult in the future.
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“Thanks, Penora,” he panted out, still lying on the ground, and she gave a weak nod.
“I couldn’t just let you get attacked,” she replied before she looked on at his injuries. “We should get you inside and treated. I don’t like how that burn looks.”
His arm was throbbing in pain, and his leg was slowly leaking blood into his trousers, leaving a growing red stain, not helped at all by the bruise on his other shin from the lizardwolf’s tail. He gingerly tried to stand, and though it was somewhat painful, it didn’t feel like either of his leg injuries were too severe. Limping slowly over to the dryad, he helped her up before they returned to the farmhouse, where they collapsed in the guest bedroom into a deep slumber.
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The farmer was pleased that none of his cattle had been killed or stolen away in the night, even if his gruff face didn’t exactly convey that well. But despite his praise for their job well done, Aralen knew that the lizardwolves would only return later, once their pack had regrown and rebuilt. They were stubborn creatures, and once they found a viable hunting ground, they would just keep coming back until either it or they were depleted. So Aralen knew his job was nowhere near done, which led him to the next question.
Being, how did they plan on taking on a den of the fiery lizards? Aralen clearly couldn’t take on a large group of them, and while Penora would hopefully help solve that issue, there was a non-zero chance that the creatures would be holed up in a cave somewhere, which would decrease the dryad’s power quite a bit. And given how close the previous night had gotten to failure, he knew he needed to plan better to avoid a similar outcome.
But try as he might, he couldn’t think of any options that would deal with all possible scenarios. Of course, if their den was above ground, he and Penora would likely be able to clear out the remnants with ease, Penora’s nature magic more than enough to make up any deficit. But in the case that they were underground, or in a cave somewhere, he didn’t feel comfortable rushing in and relying on combat strength entirely. His thoughts wandered to possibly drawing them out, but he couldn’t think of a viable bait to entice them. Maybe a stakeout, to wait for them to leave for another hunting expedition? But no, the reptiles only hunted at night, and Penora would again be crippled by the lack of sunlight.
He looked over at Penora, who was currently sitting beside him and treating his burn, her vines wrapping around the affected area and applying some kind of sap that soothed the pain. The sight of her gentle treatment brought his thoughts back to their first encounter for some reason, and he remembered how threatening she had seemed then, with her supernatural agility and menacing vines, as well as her charming fragrance, compared to the tenderness she was displaying now.
His eyes widened as he realized the solution was right there in front of him in the form of the large flower bud currently positioned on her head.
“Penora, does your sleeping ability work on animals?” She looked at him confused for a moment before she realized what he meant, then thought about it for a moment.
“I’ve never tried it, but it should. There’s nothing about it that only works on elves or humans or anything like that.” Aralen smiled at the good news. Maybe this job would be easier than he thought. Now he just had to hope that the reptiles were in a cave of some kind, and they could easily flood it with Penora’s sleeping gas and clear it out that way. And even if they were in the open, it could still be a powerful boon in their fight.
With a basic plan set, he spent the next few hours running over it again and again in his head, trying to find any holes in their plans. The most obvious was the beasts being immune to Penora’s power somehow, but a quick test on one of the cattle outside, with the farmer’s permission, proved that it should work on animals. Factors like the cave even being large enough to enter, the lizards being somewhat nomadic and leading to them being difficult to find in the first place, or a number of other possibilities all came up, but he was able to answer them with some kind of solution until he felt confident that they could deal with the reptiles without a snag.
He did still have to heal up, which took the rest of the day, a day of relaxation that was frankly welcome after the chaotic night of fighting. Penora’s sap seemed to have some kind of healing property in it, as the pain from the burn quickly faded, and the bite wounds on his leg, while gruesome looking and painful, quickly faded to a dull throbbing once Penora’s sap and bandages were applied.
The following day his injuries were much more manageable, thanks primarily to Penora’s help, and he felt prepared to take on the lizardwolf nest. After a modest breakfast of eggs donated graciously by the farmer, they set off towards the location of the previous fight. The vines were gone completely, but the scorch marks and indents in the soil from their footsteps remained. At some point, the farmer must have taken the dead lizardwolves somewhere, since they were nowhere to be seen, but their tracks remained.
Yet again, he found himself thankful for Penora’s presence. She seemed to be very adept at pointing out traces of the lizardwolves as they left the farmland and entered the forest at the edge of the farmer’s property, even as the fallen leaves and underbrush tried their hardest to hide the tracks from them. He had no doubt that given enough time, he could have followed the tracks himself, as the large, flat feet of the lizardwolves left relatively noticeable footprints in the damp soil, but Penora was able to point them out significantly faster than he could.
This didn’t mean that they found the den quickly, unfortunately. The hike from the farm still took over three hours through dense forests, with Aralen on guard constantly for any sign of danger. This close to the capital, it was unlikely that there would be much, but the lizardwolves were proof that beasts still strayed close to the massive city. Nothing ran into them, however, and they did eventually run into a large cave entrance in the side of a hill, large stones and boulders creating an entryway of some kind.
“This is it,” Penora announced as they neared the entrance, Aralen peering into the dark depths of the cave.
Aralen took a lightstone from his bag and held it away from him before taking a few steps into the mouth of the tunnel, stopping once he reached the dirt back wall. In the dirt was a smaller tunnel, maybe half the size of himself in height and clearly dug out by the lizardwolves, with claw marks on the walls. He felt glad that he had come up with a plan other than attacking head-on, as having to crawl through the tunnel would have dissuaded him immediately.
Instead, he beckoned Penora into the mouth, where she slowly extended her vines into the depths of the tunnel. It took a moment, with Aralen waiting anxiously watching her concentrated expression as the vines wriggled and probed at the tunnel.
“They’re here. I don’t know how many, but they seem to be asleep already. Should I still do it?” she asked, to which he nodded.
“Yes. I don’t want any of them waking up while I’m stuck down there.”
He spent another several minutes waiting for Penora to finish applying her sleeping gas, then even more while he waited for the gas to dissipate; the last thing he wanted was to get knocked out while down there as well. Eventually, after what felt like hours of waiting, she gave the go-ahead, and the pair of them crawled into the tunnel. While at first they were on their hands and knees, slowly inching their way down the dirt passage, it eventually opened up, and they found the main chamber, the sleeping forms of the lizardwolves all around them.
Making sure not to disturb any of the sleeping reptiles, they began working on dispatching them. Aralen didn’t feel any joy from executing sleeping creatures, but he knew that anything less would lead to their eventual return to the farm to continue terrorizing the livestock. It’s just like an insect exterminator, just with large, pack-hunting reptiles, he convinced himself as he continued his work. Penora’s vines, while weakened in the dark cavern, were still strong enough to restrain any of the weakened creatures that showed signs of awakening, and Aralen’s spear made quick work of the monsters.
It wasn’t long until they were crawling back out of the tunnel, Aralen wiping his brow from the sweat of the uncomfortably hot cave. But the job was done, and he hadn’t needed to get into a fight with the monsters either. Easy peasy.
The farmer was elated that the job was done, a wide smile cracking on his weathered face for the first time since the elf had met him. The payment was good as well, especially after considering the hospitality also offered by the family, and Aralen walked away feeling accomplished for having helped the farmer out. It wasn’t particularly glamorous, especially when compared to some of the feats he had heard his mother talk about, but it didn’t matter to Aralen at that moment.
Now that the job was done, he had around a week to check in for his Trading Company job. Since he was already in Alugala, he decided to spend a couple of days there, visiting his mother and showing Penora around the city. It was a relaxing time, letting his wounds heal completely and appreciating the capital. It did eventually come to an end, however, when Rylei and Jyce showed up, fresh from their mission in Coqueiroste. Though Aralen asked many questions about what their mission had actually been, Jyce claimed he didn’t want to discuss it until Selene was in attendance. This did mean that the group had to return to the dingy wooden shack where Selene kept the warpstone, and Aralen unfortunately had to experience the horrible crushing sensation before being whisked away to the Auralin’s tower.
The elf was invited to the meeting, alongside Penora, and the four of them plus Selene sat in her lavish study, the silver instruments whirring softly as Jyce and Rylei described their mission.
“We took care of her without too much difficulty, but even still, it doesn’t look good,” Jyce began.
“The fact that she was even in the city, without attacking any of the civilians, was a big surprise. We weren’t expecting to have to fight in the streets. Her disguise was powerful, too. She avoided all of our detection equipment. If she didn’t give herself away, I don’t think we could have found her at all,” Rylei added, an unusual tone of concern in her voice. If Ryeli was unsettled by whatever was going on, then it must be bad.
“Wait, are you talking about a monster girl? In the city?” Aralen asked, hoping to put his confusion to rest.
“Yes,” Selene said gravely, “I had gotten reports of a monster girl sighting in the area, but not much information outside of that.”
“It was a doppelganger, too. She didn’t even need a magical disguise, which might be part of why we didn’t detect her.”
“So why did she reveal herself to you, then?”
“She overheard us talking about Nylia. Apparently, she thought I was one of her,” Rylei responded, and it took a while for Aralen to realize the implication. His eyes widened once he did, and Rylei nodded gravely in response.
“Yep. There are more disguised monster girls out there.”