Over the next few weeks, Chi spent most of her days in her guise as a human adventurer, finishing up the the refreshing of the wards and adding wardstones to various structures. Her nights she spent in her true form, hunting in the countryside

Reconstruction of the farm was proceeding rapidly. Not that she was lifting a finger. She hadn’t had the need past her first day of cleanup. So soon as the most disturbing evidence of the slaughter had been cleaned away, she’d been able to hire the carpenter and a few villagers to perform the necessary cleaning and repairs. They’d been grateful for the silver, and she’d been grateful for the aid.

The area was rife with pests of the sort most civilized zones had little trouble with. Beasts, of course, along with creatures and monsters she didn’t know the local names of, but the likes of which she’d encountered elsewhere many times. Their levels —correction, their ranks— were generally low, in keeping with the relative rank... level...? bother! of the zone. In any case, their ranks were low, but there were a lot of them. As though there hadn’t been any culling going on at all for quite some time.

She came to learn that no authorities had visited the village in almost a decade, save the single instance of the herald warning them to vacate. More concerning, they hadn’t seen an adventurer in nearly three years despite their repeated calls for help. Calls which they’d been forced to suspend when the road had become too dangerous for travel due to the fading power of the ward stones.

As a result, the villagers were formidable for their kind, having been forced to protect themselves against the beasts and monsters of the area without the aid of champions — what the locals called gifted. For their kind, however, was the operative phrase. They were still base level humans, and no match for even low level monsters for the most part. Little wonder the goblins had had free reign.

There were around eighty-five able-bodied men in Tumblebrook, a roughly equal number of women, and somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred children of various ages. There had been more prior to the arrival of the goblins, and some of Chi’s daylight time was spent at the farewell services of those who’d been taken before her arrival.

One particular child, a little blonde haired girl of about ten whose name was Samus, had taken to following Chi around during her daylight excursions. Chi found she enjoyed the company, and Samus’ parents had apparently decided the girl was as safe in Chi’s company as she was anywhere else, if not safer.

More interesting, the longer the child spent around her, the more Chi got the idea that she might have a bit of power. It was difficult to say, between the sapping of the collar and the girl’s age, but the feel of it was there.

Two months passed this way in relative peace. The first peace Chi had ever known. She found it surprisingly easy to acclimate. But a niggling worry began to work at the back of her mind. If Tumblebrook village had fallen into the state she’d found it in, how many more like it had found themselves in similar straights?

“Other villages?” Mayor Longhan pondered, scratching at the beard stubble along his jawline with one hand. “I take it you’re wondering after populated villages, yes?”

“That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” Chi pursed her lips.

“Oh,” he waved the hand he’d been using on his jaw. “It’s not like that. You see, back around three years ago, when the hero swept the countryside clear of fighters, most of the villages out here in the hinterlands were abandoned. The villagers were moved to the towns or gathered together into larger, more readily protected villages capable of fielding guard forces large enough to deal with the predators without the aid of the gifted.”

This was the first Chi was hearing of this. She’d been wondering what had been going on. Why there weren’t any champ– gifted out taking care of the vermin, but she hadn’t gotten round to discussing the local politics with anyone.

“The hero?” she wondered. “What sort of hero leaves whole areas defenseless?”

He shrugged. “The sort who finally manages to defeat the Demon Lord when the ten previous heroes failed?” he ventured.

“I’m just a farmer, Lady Chi,” he went on. “I don’t pretend to understand the tactics or trials of demon hunting, and certainly not the thoughts of heroes. He seemed to think that the only way he’d manage to kill Mohrtgauth was with the help of every able bodied fighter with the slightest gift at his back. The king agreed, so off they went. Three waves of them over the years. The last of them three years ago, leaving us on our own out here.”

“And nobody’s showed up since?” she couldn’t believe her ears. “And you’re sure he killed this Mohrtgauth?”

“Oh, yes,” Mayor Longhan nodded. “They sent out proclamations and everything. The old king abdicated in favor of the hero, who’s our new king.”

Some king, she thought. Even Reylios, currently the Dread Lord of Tarr, protected its minions from enemies. Or, at least preserved them for its own amusements.

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“And yet, you’re all still here?” she wondered.

Another shrug. “These are our homes, Lady Chi,” he explained. “And we’re stubborn.”

“Stubborn unto death, it seems,” her retort was dry,

Yet another shrug. “We prayed. And we trusted that the gods would eventually send us a hero of our own,” he smiled. “We just had to hold out until she arrived. More tea?” he smiled.

Hold on a minute, Chi’s eyes narrowed. Until she arrived? Is he inferring that it’s me? Is he confusing me for a hero? “I do hope you aren’t referring to me,” she observed.

“A hero is as a hero does,” he smiled.

“My original question?” she deflected. “Surely there were other stubborn farmers.”

“None that we’ve heard of,” his smile disappeared. “But it’s not like we have the men to send out looking, is it?”

Chi sipped her tea and reflected. Maybe it was time to take a look around.

After a few more minutes of pleasantries, she excused herself and left. She’d need to revert to her natural form soon, and didn’t want to be in the village when she did so.

It took her two days of exploration to find the next village, searching only at night. As the mayor had told her, it had been abandoned. Which was not to say it was empty.

Goblins again. Difficult to say how many, as they were currently fighting what Identify told her were level thirty higher golems. Five of them, and unlike any golems she’d ever seen before. Four were humanoid, perhaps six to seven feet tall. The last was a centauroid, larger than a draft horse, with the upper body of a man or ogre. In the darkness of the abandoned village, even her eyes couldn’t make out all of the fine detail.

The humanoids were clad in ragged clothing and wielding weapons. They moved in concert, and were using group tactics as opposed to simply trundling down the center of the pathway and beating on things with clubbed fists. And they were making quite the mess.

Flying a loop around the outskirts of the village while maintaining the highest altitude that still allowed her to see any detail at all on the ground, she was able to track the carnage the golems were leaving in their wake. Not goblins only, but what appeared to be giant spiders, and even giant horned rats. As though the village had become a lair for the local monster population as a whole, as though they were moving out from the wild wood. Or, at least they had been until the attackers had arrived.

She was still wondering how such a large population of monsters had managed to gather when she caught a flicker of reflected moonlight from the street below.

“Whoop!” she blurted as she twisted in the air, furling one wing and rolling, stretching her neck to bring her head clear of the incoming missile’s trajectory.

The arrow slid past her chin with barely an inch to spare, still moving at a blistering pace.

Finishing her roll and beating her wings hard to regain some altitude, she peered down and saw the centauroid nocking another arrow. Time to leave, she decided. I don’t have any business down there at all!

Beating harder, she dodged the construct’s next arrow, flipped on her heel, and took off straight north at the best speed she could manage. She wasn’t about to lead those things to Tumblebrook. Fighting goblins and lesser monsters didn’t make them the villagers’ friends, only their enemy’s enemies.

Still, why were there so many goblins down there? The way these things usually worked, the spawn fields had population limits, and didn’t spawn monsters until those who’d been there previously had been killed. Had something gone wrong with the gates?

She shook her head. That was crazy. Unless someone was messing around with them. She frowned volcanically. She knew something that liked messing around with gates. It was never a good thing for those whose worlds such gates resided in.

One other village, she found that night. Also swarming with low lev— ranked monsters, although this time there were no golems. She didn’t know whether to be worried or relieved. On the one hand, lev— rank thirty higher golems had no business being anywhere near here. They were far too dangerous for the l— ranks local adventurers would normally hold.

On the other, given the high order of the wards she’d been seeing all along the highway, and indeed, on the road to Tumblebrook, there was obviously a mage about of some significant power. Might they belong to that mage?

Her mood was less than jolly when Samus arrived at her door bright and early the next morning. Fortunately, she’d gotten some sleep and had managed to cast her human guise about her.

“It’s unlocked, Sam,” she called from the table.

“What are you doing way out here alone, Sam?” she wondered sternly when the child had entered giggling and skipped over to give her a hug.

“Papa hitched Lucky up to the cart so I could visit,” she girl grinned wide.

Chi frowned.

“We’re going to pick parfruit,” Samus’ grin lost some of its glow. “Aren’t we? You were going to take me to pick parfruit for Mama. You promised.”

Chi rubbed her head and yawned, closing her eyes. “Was that today?”

“We’re going, aren’t we, Chi?” Samus pleaded.

“Yes,” Chi sighed. “We’re still going. Just let me finish my tea, okay? There’s a tart on the mantle, why don’t you have it?”

“Ooh!” Samus raced for the mantle. “What flavor?”

“Does it matter, you bottomless pit?” Chi chuckled, eyes closed.

“Nope!” the child’s voice was muffled as she gobbled down the sweet.

Among the things that Iktchi-Chi did not know how to do was drive a cart, and so Samus drove while Chi watched.

“Have you found any wire yet?” Chi asked idly as the cart bounced over the rough ground.

“Yep,” Samus nodded animatedly. “Got some from Mister Hoorme, the blacksmith.”

“Show me,” Chi held out a hand.

Samus rummaged around in her pouch and came out with a length of copper wire, not very thick, and not very long. Chi tsked, but supposed it would do for a first try.

“Any stones?”

Now Samus’ face fell. “Not really," she shook her head. “I found some shiny rocks that were kinda smooth, but they weren’t really fancy. I asked Mama, but she didn’t have any either, and started asking me why I all of a sudden wanted gemstones.”

“What did you tell her?” Chi’s tone sharpened.

Samus looked up at her beaming. “I told her I wanted to make a magic wand just like yours.”

Chi squeezed her eyes shut and massaged the bridge of her nose. “What did she say to that?” she asked without opening her eyes.

“She said I was ‘dorable, and ruffled my hair,” Samus announced proudly. Then her face got serious. “But she still didn’t have any stones.”

“We’ll work on it,” Chi assured her. “today, while we’re looking for parfruit, we’ll see if we can find you a good stick, how’s that sound?”

“Yay!” the beaming smile was back.