Vern and Zee made their way south through the plains along the border. The warm sun sat in the clear blue sky, beating down overhead as a gentle breeze blew in from the east while they walked side by side. The goblin taking 3 steps to keep pace with every long stride the ranger makes.
“Jeez, why’shu gotta take such big steps?” Zee questioned, taking a hop over a small rock.
“Cause I got long legs!” Vern took dramatically long steps with stiff legs to emphasize his point before returning to a normal walking pattern. “I told you I can't afford to slow down, so don’t start complaining.”
“Im’nuh ‘com-play-neeng’! I’m jush pointing out someshing that annoysh me.”
“Yes, that’s called complaining Zee.” He said with a smug grin, looking down at the goblin girl. She looked back at him with an unamused expression. “Why did you send your boar away? Wouldn’t it be easier to just ride along with it?” He inquired.
“Yeh but it’s almosh the boars feedin’ time, I wash worried we wou’nt find enough food for her out’ere. She’sha picky eater.” Zee explained, picking at her teeth with a sharp nail.
“You folk really care about your boars don’t you?” He pondered aloud, turning his gaze back towards the direction they’re headed.
“Mmhph! Pumpah let me pick’er out when she wash jush a lil shquealer! Shaid we’d be good friends!”
“Aww that's cute.” Vern smiled.
“Until I gets’ta eat her!”
“Oh.” His smile quickly dropped into a slight frown.
“You humans have the big leggy things right? Why don’sha ride one’a those?
“You mean ‘horses’? Yeah a lot of people use horses even the guards have access to a stable, but I never really ride one unless I need to. Plus I like to take my time out here” He mused, using a wide swinging gesture, showing off the rolling plains before them. “Usually it takes me a whole day to hike all the way to the marker, then all the way down south to the river that borders our neighbor’s district where I make camp.”
“Well isha good thing ya have thosh big legs then.” Zee quietly remarked, kicking a stone out of their path.
“So why did you want to come with me? You never wanted to before.”
Her thin lips pulled into a slight frown as she spoke. “...Mmmph, I had’n angry talk with Mummah and Pumpah two morningsh ago. They’re telling me to do thingsh I dun wanna do. So I wanna go’way for a lil time.
“Really? Don’t you do enough now that you’re a lead hunter? Vern asked, taking a swig of his canteen.
“Not like that! They say I hav’ta…” She mumbles something he can’t hear, crossing her arms across her chest.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t quite hear that.” He slightly tilts his head towards her.
“...I dun wanna talk about it.” Her ears droop as she looks away from him.
“Hm.”
The air between them is quiet as they continue to hike along, trudging up a slight incline. Vern notices a couple of birds flying high in the sky, identifying them as hawks from their silhouettes, looking for prey across the plains. They come to the top of the incline, looking down as the rest of the plains splayed out in front of them. He pulls out a small bronze spyglass from his satchel, extending and looking through it down towards the horizon, spotting the shimmering of water at a distance.
“There’s the river!” He declares, handing the spyglass to Zee as she curiously looks through it. “We still have a couple of hours before we reach it. Do you want to take a break or keep pushing on?” Inquiring as he turns to face her.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
Zee’s stomach lets a low growl in response. She embarrassedly scratches behind her ear, averting her eyes as she responds. “Mmm, I’d rather wait’ll we’re comfy before getting shome grub.”
Vern chuckles as he turns back towards the south, scanning the horizon before a glint on the ground catches his eye. Zee hands the spyglass back to him, using it to get a closer look at what was reflecting the sun into his eyes. He spots a round, sparse bush, behind it a weave of silvery-white strands lay stuck to the ground.
“Well that’s new.” He spoke in a whisper, pocketing the spyglass as he motions for Zee to follow. “I see a funnel web about 90 paces down. I need to get a closer look to confirm.” They both start down the incline, stepping lighter as they approach the web before coming to a stop about 15 feet away, Taking cover behind a nearby bush. The spider web was a funnel, tightly weaved and splayed out in a circle about 30 feet in diameter, with a hole in the center roughly 4 feet across. Vern stood in contemplation for a moment, left hand on his hip, right hand scratching his neck, deciding his next action.
He knelt down and broke a branch off the bush, testing its weight in hand before heaving it overhead, leaves shuffling through the air, landing right on the edge of the web. In an instant a large wolf-sized spider dashed out of the hole, pouncing directly onto the branch. Its carapace was dark brown, with long thick legs and 2 deep indentations in its abdomen. 8 beady eyes stared blankly ahead, sunlight reflecting partially off of them. Vern stood unmoving, slightly crouched behind the bush, the spider moved so fast he barely had any time to react. Zee was peering from the side of the bush, one of her spears in hand, raised above her head. both of them holding their breaths.
The spider gnawed confusingly on the branch for a few moments before slowly backing away, disappearing abdomen first into its hole, out of sight. Vern stood back up, breathing a quiet sigh of relief. “Well that’s good! I was afraid it was going to be something much worse.”
Zee stood up beside him, lowering the spear in her hand. She tilted her head, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Aren’we gonna kill it?”
“We don’t need to, so long as it doesn’t become a problem.” He pulls out a journal and a charcoal pen, flipping to a blank page before jotting down some notes. “I need to make a report though, so people in the village will know it’s here if anyone comes out this way.
“If it’sa danger why dun we jush kill it?” She planted the end of her spear into the ground. “You shcared?” she teased in a mocking tone, leaning forward ear first awaiting a rebuttal.
He flipped the tome closed, twirling the pen in hand as he spoke. “As a Ranger, it’s my duty to protect nature from mankind as much as it is to protect mankind from nature. Spiders, even giant ones, are just another part of the ecosystem, a delicate balance we must strive to protect.” Finishing the spiel he stuffed both objects back into his satchel.
“Even monstersh? She replied, voice laced with confusion.
“Yes, even monsters.” Eyes still trained on the spot the spider stood moments ago.
“Then why’da all the humansh push the monstersh away from their turf?” Replacing the spear in its sheath as she asked.
Vern let a soft exhale escape through his nose. “Because us humans don’t know how to leave well enough alone. Instead of learning anything about the world around us we take control of everything we can and exterminate everything we can’t.” He explained in a flat tone. Pinching the bridge of his nose before continuing “And now look where we are. The biggest threat to our borders isn’t a neighboring country’s army, or a plague, or an uprising of bandits.” Letting his hand fall from his face dejectedly. “It’s nature.”
“But monstersh are big an mean an dangeroush!” Zee replied, raising her hands above her head, stomping the ground, imitating a large creature. My tribe hunts em all the time! Thash our deal, rember?”
“Yes, but that’s different. Your tribe hunts for survival and protection. To eat, to make tools, even for what you wear!” Vern points to the monster pelts on her body, as she looks down at herself, curiously patting down her clothes. “You let nothing go to waste, you keep the monsters from attacking the tribe, and you can’t over hunt them because there’s just so many of them out there now.” He idly traced the lines on his palm with his fingers as he continued speaking. “When humans hunt a monster it’s usually for sport, out of fear, or to eradicate them from the area. Even ‘because it’s an active danger to lives and property’ is becoming less and less of a popular reason.”
“Shounds like’ya think about thish alot.” She cooly replied, seemingly pondering over the words he shared.
Vern let a small smile form on his lips as he looked back to the goblin beside him. “Ha, yeah I do. Sorry for ranting by the way, I don’t get to share my thoughts very often.”
Zee’s ears perked up as she responded to his smile with a toothy grin of her own along with a playful shrug. “Eh, you shay funny words I dun get shometimes.” She lightly elbows him in the hip. “But you’re fun’ta hear, human man!”
He responds by bending down to her eye level, narrowing his eyes and grinning mischievously. “And you’re pretty funny to look at, goblin woman.” Playfully poking her in the space between her eyes.
She bats away his hand and they share a mutual amused laugh before continuing along their journey, giving the spider’s den a wide berth as they walk past. Soon the sun starts to set as they make their way towards the river.