When Reurig and I arrived at the worker camp, we didn’t see anyone there. Based on the position of the sun, it was about noon, and the workers and guards were presumably in Alarna right now. A pocket watch would be mighty useful.
We stepped out of the forest and took a look around. So far, I had only caught glimpses of this area from a distance, because we had always taken a turn south long before reaching this location, to head into the woods as soon as possible. The forest was split up into rectangles by dirt paths, though all of them eventually ended at a wall of trees. When we had first come through here, my guess had been that this was possibly supposed to keep the beasts at bay, because people believed them to be created by trees somehow. I thought that, with smaller areas, beasts might not be able to “spawn,” and the workers could do their job in peace. I finally got confirmation from Reurig about my theory as we walked through the camp.
“You’re right. Sometimes it seems like beasts appear out of thin air, and this setup is supposed to prevent that. Though, honestly, I think it’s superstition. The beasts are just really good at hiding their presence until the last moment.”
We stood in a mostly open square, with dirt paths running in all four directions. There were walls of trees down the paths in the north, east, and south, with the path to Alarna in the west. Two wagons that were partially filled with larger and smaller logs stood in the center, together with a bunch of tools. A few meters from them stood two large tents, which appeared to have been set up for the workers to take breaks, with a few chairs, tables, and barrels that were presumably filled with water. Staying out here for extended lunch breaks was apparently deemed too dangerous, but anyone would need a small break once in a while.
At the edges of the forest, there were several locations where the lumberjacks were cutting down rows of trees, taking down the rectangular groups bit by bit. It seemed like they hadn’t been here for long though. Cutting these grid paths into the forest had probably taken a little while, but since then, they had apparently only cleared this area of about fifty square meters.
“Do you know how long they’ve been at work here, Reurig?”
“They started about half a year ago I believe. Before that, they were clearing the space north of town.”
Slowly but surely, they had been cutting down more and more of the woods around Alarna, allowing for the town to expand and become safer at the same time. It was fascinating to think that, once upon a time, this had all been a huge forest, and the town had only been a small settlement, on a large clearing, around the water source that I had done my first research on.
“Alright. Once they come back, they’ll all arrive right here,” I said, taking in our surroundings one more time and going over the plan. “I’ll come down from the north and approach them, trying to sell my story and how great life will be if they trust me with their lives.”
It seemed mundane, but we had decided that casually walking up to them like this gave me the best chance and a good entry. Me, a powerless, young woman, who had spent two days and nights out here in the Wildlands, would be walking up to them without a care in the world and without a scratch. The hope was that it would surprise the guards and workers enough that they should at least be curious enough to listen to what I had to say. Though it still seems kind of silly. “Oh, look at me, just walking here! Be impressed!”
‘Do you really think they’ll listen to you?’ Lilana asked, while I was making fun of myself.
“We’ll see, won’t we? Worst case scenario, they’ll try to arrest or kill us, but that won’t work, because they have to stay here and protect the workers. We should be able to escape easily.”
‘Oh, the worst that can happen is that they try to kill us? Silly me, worrying that something bad might happen.’
“Hey, it’s only bad if they manage to kill you,” I said with a chuckle.
“Plan B is still on the table, I noticed some tracks nearby,” Reurig said.
Over the course of our discussions, alternative plans had been proposed as well. One of them was for Reurig to try to lure a beast here, ideally one too strong for the guards to handle, and I would make my grand entrance by defeating it and saving the day. This plan would presumably be quite effective, with over two dozen people owing me their lives, but it was shot down because of the risk for innocent people to get hurt.
“No, I think we should stick to the current plan. We can think about Plan B again if this one fails. They won’t be less grateful if we save them next time.”
“Hm, alright,” Reurig said and scanned the woods for a good vantage point. “I’ll be over there,” he said, pointing at a group of trees on a small hill in the north-west.
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“Okay, let’s get ready,” I said, and the two of us split up. Today, Reurig was only here as a guide and as backup, in case something went horribly wrong, though we didn’t foresee any actual problems.
“About that dream,” I said to Lilana as I entered the forest once more, “do you remember anything else?”
‘Huh? Shouldn’t you be focusing right now?’
“You started with this. And we still have a few minutes.”
‘Hmph. No, I don’t remember anything else.’
“Did you see yourself? Or your body?”
‘No, why?’
“Hm, I don’t know yet.”
Lilana was a priestess in spirit, and I wouldn’t be too surprised if she dreamed of having a tea party with a few gods. However, sitting at a table with white stones, in the middle of the Wildlands, having a conversation with the god of rituals, who wasn’t even the god she was following, seemed weird. Not to mention that she recognized him as Gallas, even though his body was apparently translucent. She said she had addressed him that way, but she didn’t question it even a little bit, because she somehow knew that it was him. What bothered me most about this dream, however, was her description of Gallas’ translucent body. I didn’t know why, but I felt like I should know what that meant. Weirder yet, for some reason I thought that her body had probably looked the same way.
“How about that Celeth guy? Do you have a theory why he would appear in front of us in Cerus?”
‘I don’t do theories,’ she said, sounding annoyed. ‘There’s no point in guessing. The gods—’
“Oh! The gods will tell you whatever you need to know, right?” I said mockingly. That attitude is getting old.
Lilana was quiet for a moment, until my head suddenly felt as if it was about to burst. ‘GRAHHHHHH!’
“ARGH! FUCK! What was that for!?”
‘You know what!!’
“Ugh,” I grunted as I held my head. Yea. I know. Didn’t think that one through.
With a ringing in my brain, I was hiding behind a tree, a few meters from the dirt path running down to the worker camp, waiting for my audience to come back from lunch. It took a little while until I heard noises in the distance, but I was thankful for that grace period, during which my headache subsided.
“I guess it’s showtime.”
Glancing down the path, I could see people move around, getting their tools, and resuming their work. With a hint of nervousness, I prepared myself to walk back into the camp. I feel like I’m about to go on stage or something...
I stepped out from behind a tree and left the forest’s protective cover. However, I had barely made five steps, when I heard someone at the camp scream “BEAST!”, followed by the workers fleeing past the path I was walking down on, towards the center of the square.
“Huh? A beast?” I said in a daze. Why is there a beast here? I’m pretty close to them, beasts shouldn’t approach this area on their own.
I briefly thought about the talking beasts, but another potential explanation came up when I heard someone yell “CAT SIX!!!”
“Category... six!?” I said and started sprinting towards the camp.
Not a single low level beast had ever approached us during our travels, but the category five bears had been close by. We hadn’t seen them, but back then, Berla and our other pursuers were not far behind us, and they had been plagued by them. This suggested that they were still avoiding us, but they weren’t as scared as the weaker ones. If a five just avoids us, maybe a six doesn’t care at all...?
Berla had told us that the beasts past category five were essentially living nightmares. While those below that level could usually be handled by three or four competent Fighters, beasts of category six and above were supposedly so strong that even a full squad of guards stood no chance. She had also told us that such beasts almost never appeared around Alarna, however, which was one reason the town was deemed the safest one around these parts. What kind of luck is this!? And is it good or bad!?
We had considered this scenario, but for it to just happen by coincidence was bizarre. Not to mention that we had been thinking about a category five, not something that transcended it.
I arrived at the square and saw the workers huddled together behind the wagons, with the guards standing in front of them, weapons at the ready. Everyone was facing west, in the direction of Alarna. Following their gaze, my eyes finally fell on the beast in question. A bear type, with an aura that was larger and denser than anything I had seen before. Just like the other beasts, its fur was jet black, and its eyes seemed to glow red as it stared down the guards and growled deeply. It would’ve been a terrifying sight, had it not been for its actual body. Compared to the previous bear I had seen, this one was the size of a small cub, that would barely reach my waist.
“That’s a category six...? What the...”
‘That’s a beast...? It looks... kind of cute?’
Even though the beast appeared strong somehow, it was difficult to take it seriously, and Lilana seemed to agree. The situation got more threatening when the cute teddy suddenly disappeared, however.
“Where did it—” I started, until I saw it out of the corner of my eyes, right in front of the guards, as one of them fell to the ground, while the others tried to attack the beast. I only saw it for a brief moment, before it disappeared once more, as if teleporting. “Oh, shit!”