They came early in the morning. Slithering like snakes and as quiet as the moon. They slaughtered our night watchers and anyone who resisted before we even knew what happened. We were severely unprepared for them.
But, then again, this wasn’t supposed to happen to our village. We were the farthest village from any humans. The only dangers we had to worry about were the corrupt and cruel tax collectors and the monsters from the forest.
We were a frontier town. We were all poor farmers. They relocated most of us to this village 5 years ago because the capital needed more food. Most of the people here in the village were overflow from towns who couldn’t find food, orphans, or street rats like me, who could be used as cheep labor.
To make matters worse, we all were on edge these past few months waiting for the harvest. The famine was worse this year than the last, which made everyone a little jumpy around food. We did have a few abled hunters that brought us meat from the forest, but other than that, we were hurting.
But I still couldn’t understand this.
‘This kind of attack, it wasn’t supposed to happen here. We weren’t supposed to be wary of human attacks. That is, unless they came from the mountains, but that’s impossible. The humans haven’t been able to cross the mountains in 300 years. And even if they were able to cross, someone would have spotted them. If they were spotted then the capital would have known about it, and if the capital knew about it, then they should have sent more guards here. Unless they don’t know…..’
I contemplated the gravity of that thought as I hid in a small crevice around a building, watching the human soldiers swarm the village. I knew I had to leave, but I couldn’t find a good exit. The soldiers had the village relatively surrounded.
I knew I needed to get out of this village quick before things got worse. I was hoping that the 3 bear beastmen sent by the capital to guard our village would be able to push them back, or at least hold them off for me to get away.
Unlike everyone else in the village, I had always been alone and knew how to take care of myself in times like these. Well, not exactly times like these, but when everyone starts screaming in chaos, I knew I needed to run away to be safe.
I tried to get to the side of the village closest to the forest. I knew that my best bet of surviving this was to hide in the forest and try and make my way around to another village. Thankfully, I was also used to people being after me so this whole event didn’t faze me much.
For the rest of the people though, this was a nightmare. Women screaming, children crying, men lying in pools of their own blood. One of the houses even caught fire and started to burn, lighting up this dark night.
‘wait! That gives me an idea. I can use the burning house as cover. If I can stay in the shadows of the fire, I should be able to make it out. The soldiers will not want to be near the fire. That is the break I have been needing.’
I immediately moved from house to house, hiding place to hiding place, towards the burning house. As I neared it, I could see soldiers corralling the villagers into cages. Those that were old or sick were immediately killed in those groups. The humans were merciless.
I turned a corner it in time to see a 14yr old cat beastman girl crying and hiding in a corner over the body of her decapitated grandfather. I was surprised by her willpower to not be screaming like the rest.
We locked eyes for a moment and I could see the terror on hers. I remembered her, she was a new arrival that came in with her grandfather a few months ago.
She must have seen something in my eyes because she ran over to me and hid behind me, silently begging me to save her.
Half of me wanted to push her away and try to make my escape, but I knew she would just follow me and if she did that, she would just give away my position.
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I whispered to her, “Fine. But you have to be silent and follow me quickly, I will not wait up for you. Got it?”
She nodded her head and I continued on my way.
Finally, after a few close calls, we made it to the burning house. I checked around for soldiers, but most of them were farther away from us.
After making a silent prayer and telling the little girl to run with everything she had after me, we bolted towards the forest.
I didn’t dare look back, I didn’t know if the girl was behind me or not, I was just running for my life. After almost making it to the tree line I could hear the yells of the soldiers.
They spotted us.
I tried to speed up as much as I could. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I was drenched in sweat as I started to hear them catching up.
After I made it to the tree line, I just kept going into the forest. I hoped that they would be weary of the monsters and pause. I hoped that that pause was long enough for me to get as far as I could away from them.
I just kept running, my body started to burn, my lungs felt like ovens as I desperately tried to get air to them. I knew that this was the only reprieve that I would get from those soldiers, so I needed to keep pushing myself.
I kept running even after the sun came up, and I continued for a good hour before slowing down to look back. When I did, I noticed the little girl 10 or so meters behind me, drenched in sweat and panting. She looked like she would pass out any second. I was again surprised by her willpower and speed.
When she finally made it to me, she passed out on the ground at my feet. She had pushed herself that hard.
I felt sorry for her. She lost someone she loved and had to go running for her life in a span of a few hours. But life wasn’t fair and if we didn’t keep moving then we would die too.
My body was burning, but I knew I needed to get us away from where we were. We had left too many tracks. Beastmen were faster in the forests but only when you didn’t leave any tracks. So, I turned and made some tracks to the left for a few minuets and then came back. I learned that trick from one of the old hunters in the village, try and make dummy tracks to split or disorient your enemy.
When I got back, the little girl was still sound asleep. She looked cute with her disheveled hair on the ground. If we weren’t running for our lives, I would leave her be and let her sleep. But we couldn’t. I tried waking her up a few times, but she was out cold.
I thought about leaving her again, but since she made it this far because of me, I decided to bring her. It was a decision that was unlike me. I always had a rule to look out for myself because no one else would. I mean, I wasn’t really connected to the village, so the fates of the villagers right now didn’t really faze me. But, if this girl died now, then it would be because of me and I didn’t want that on my mind.
‘I mean, I’m not one for heroism, but I could at least use her later to watch as I rested. This could help us stay safer in the long run.’
I then picked her up and started to walk in a different direction. The little girl was very light compared to my 17 year old body. It was probably because she was slightly malnourished, but I didn’t focus to much on it. I wanted to get at least a few more miles away before resting.
The forest has beasts hidden in it shadows too, so I needed to be vigilant. I knew we were far from safe, but at least if we kept moving, we would have a higher chance of surviving.
“I can do this. All I have to do is keep focused and keep moving.”
-----------------------
Back at the village a soldier was reporting to his captain.
“Sir! 2 girl beasts made it to the forest. We sent a few men in to capture them, but the cat girls outran them. What should we do sir?”
With a jump and a glare, the tall and robust captain spoke to the soldier.
“You lost two little beast girls?! How did that happen?! We came here covertly so as to not arouse their suspicion and take them all in one fell swoop! We planned this perfectly! You Jackasses!! How could you let this happen?!?”
“We are sorry sir! A house caught fire and our soldiers were weary of the flames, so they spread out too much in the line.”
“You blubbering pieces of shit! If a house catches fire, walk through the bloody fire! Or die! Do you know how much we are risking with this attack!?
This operation was to acquire slaves for the kingdom and plant the seeds of war between the wolf beast tribe and the Lionheart Union! If we cannot either kill or take every single beast from this backwater village, then the mission counts as a failure. If the beast girls make it out of the forest and to another town, then they could spread the news that humans appeared in their country! It took us years to create a way through the mountains. As long as the beasts don’t know that we are here and focus on their own petty squabbles, then we can fortify a staging base without them knowing.”
“Do you understand?!? If this mission fails, we will jeopardize everything in the upcoming war!
Those damn Sorakens have been stopping our advance in the west for far too long, and the mountains have prevented our advance northward. But if we can pass through the mountains and set up bases along the beast kingdoms then we can crush the other kingdoms in the north and conquer the continent!
SO tell me what you should do, you worthless bag of slop!”
The soldiers were trembling with the pressure from the captain’s words and couldn’t say anything. Not hearing anything from the group of soldiers, he started yelling at them.
“GO GET THEM!!! DON’T YOU DARE COME BACK UNLESS YOU HAVE THEIR BODIES OR PROOF THAT THEY DIED!”
“B-But sir! The forest is riddled with monsters. They even say a few dragons live in this forest! What if we are attacked by them?!”
“EITHER BRING THE GIRL’S BODIES BACK OR DON’T COME BACK AT ALL!!”
A silence surrounds the soldiers. Fear and anxiety flash over their faces. But then the squad of 20 armed soldiers resolutely responded to their captain.
“Yes Sir!”
Nervous and scared, the soldiers begin to head into the forest after the girls.
After they left the captain pulled his aid aside.
“If those girls make it out alive then we will have a serious problem on our hands. Tell the men to finish with the village quickly and pack them all up on the wagons. We will travel on their roads for a few miles before pulling off and heading back towards the mountains so as to not leave our tracks behind. We need to speed things along. The slaves should help the process, but not much. When we get back send a few men to report back to base on the other side of the mountain. Try and get more workers for the building projects. If we can secure a fort at the entrance we made in the mountains in a month, then we should be able to get everything back on track. BUT! There shouldn’t be any more screw ups! Got it! Or its all of our heads.”
“Y-Yes sir! But what about the men we sent after the girls?”
“Leave them. They will more than likely die and get eaten by the forest monsters. Hopefully their large numbers can attract enough monsters to corner and kill the girls too. If not, then luck is not on our side and we will have to implement plan B. But don’t tell the men this. They need to focus on plan A.”
“U-Understood sir!”