<~> CHAPTER 29

Luna and I spent the next few hours talking while the others slept. We didn't talk about anything especially notable, we mostly just talked about our likes and dislikes. Unsurprisingly my love for Mexican food didn't translate well and I have no idea what she meant by her favorite foods either. It sounded like some kind of baked meat pie?

I could tell Luna didn't like talking about her history much and the few times she mentioned her father I got the sense she hated him. Her mother died during childbirth so she was raised by him alone. Maxwell and Piper had been her closest friends growing up and she spent a lot of her time with their family instead. They grew up as friends but were as close as siblings. Their mother became a surrogate mother figure to Luna too and she was there to help her when things started happening around puberty. Unprompted Luna told me that she and Maxwell didn't have any romantic feelings for each other but he was her best friend. I had been happy to hear that information but I was a bit surprised that she had brought it up unprompted like that.

I talked a bit about my past too. I grew up in the city and mainly lived with my mom. She worked a lot though so I was on my own most of the time. My parents were divorced but they stayed friends after so I still got to see my dad a lot. The mere mention of divorce sounded scandalous to Luna so I had to explain that it was really normal where I came from. She accepted that but I could tell that marriage was viewed as much more binding here than it was where I was from. That wasn't a surprise to me, based on the medieval vibe I got from these guys. I didn't expect everything to line up one-to-one with Earth's past but I wouldn't be surprised by some cultural similarities. I also told her my dad had passed away last year and that the knife he had given me the last time we went camping saved my life. The wound still felt fresh to me so I couldn't dwell on it for long.

When I got to my more recent history I explained that I had been taking a year off of college between my associate's degree and choosing my bachelor's field. I hadn't decided on it yet but I had been thinking about going into the sciences. In the meantime, I had been more focused on training for the triathlon around the retail job I had. Most of this part of the conversation flew over her head but she was impressed that 'I had been working to become a scholar,' the way she had put it made me laugh.

There was a crunch of boots in the grass a little off in the distance that made me perk up my ears. I held up a hand and focused on my hearing. I could hear people coming. Three? No, four. I could hear the telltale sound of clinking from two of them, another wore robes and the last was wearing something more akin to what I was wearing in my human form.

("I can hear people coming this way. Four I think. Two wearing armor like Maxwell, one wearing robes, and a scout,") I told her.

She nodded seriously and ran to wake up Piper and Maxwell. I considered taking my wolf form for a moment but decided against it. I think they would be more likely to attack without warning if they saw me like that. I didn't like the idea of being more vulnerable in my human form but if I didn't look like a monster they might just pass through. Shifting wouldn't take too long if they were looking for a fight anyway.

I hefted the new axe onto my shoulder and stood there facing the direction they were coming in the open part of the clearing. Their voices hushed to whispers but I could still hear them clearly even if I couldn't understand them very well. I could pick out a few words here and there but they spoke in an accent that made them even harder to understand than normal. It doesn't matter, Maxwell would probably do the talking for us.

Their scout broke off and began to circle the clearing as Maxwell and Piper came to stand next to me. I spared them a glance and nodded in the direction of the other three. I kept a mental note of the scout though, in case he tried to ambush us or something. Maxwell had gotten fully armored up with his large shield held on one arm. He left his sword sheathed for the moment though. I didn't have a sheathe for my weapon so I had hoped that leaving the huge thing up on my shoulder would be enough to say that I wasn't looking for a fight but I would take one.

("Helena, I'll translate for you,") Luna assured me. ("Just try not to be hostile, Maxwell is going to try and deescalate the situation.")

("Sounds good to me. By the way, the scout is behind us on my left.")

("Understood,") she replied.

Maxwell and Piper stood in front of me and Luna stood to my right. I was taller than everyone else by a little so I didn't have any silly notions that they wouldn't be able to see my eyes, they would definitely notice. I just hoped that it wouldn't be a big deal to them. If magic was real then maybe it would just be waved away, these guys haven't seen my wolf form yet so I hoped any comparisons to an Umber hound would be minimal.

The three people finally walked out of the brush and into the clearing after they realized that we had definitely spotted them. They were three men, the armored ones wielded a spear and sword respectively. The last guy wore tattered blue robes that came to his mid-calf, he held a long straight staff and was in his twenties, though he looked a bit sickly. The group was on edge but no one had drawn their weapons yet thankfully. Their eyes were drawn to me, I wasn't sure if it was my height or my eyes but they looked quite focused on me.

("Maxwell yelled 'state your business' to them,") Luna translated a moment after Maxwell called out.

("Just passing through, we saw this clearing and hoped it would be a good place to camp.") The mage was the one speaking for them.

("We're still using this clearing for now. We would appreciate it if you went somewhere else,") Maxwell yelled back.

I heard the sound of an arrow being pulled from a quiver and I turned to where the scout was sitting in a tree. I couldn't see him clearly through the leaves but I could tell that he jumped a little when I looked right at where he was.

Maxwell called out to them again and Luna translated. ("I would recommend against doing anything hasty. My friend has good hearing.")

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("...the one with a spear says... 'Your friend looks like a freak,") Luna hesitantly told me.

I turned my head toward the one who said that. ("Why are they acting like this?") I asked her through the rings.

("I'm not sure. Maybe they're trying to provoke us,") Luna replied. ("Ah, Maxwell replied. 'I'll kindly ask you to leave and find your own place to camp. This one is taken.")

The two wearing armor looked at the one wearing robes, their mage seemed to be their leader.

Luna's ears twitched. ("I can hear them talking, they're arguing about what to do. You scare the mage but the ones in armor are goading him on.")

I nodded and looked back at the guy with the bow. I was most concerned by what he would do now. I didn't want to be ambushed from behind, even if it was only one bowman.

I suddenly heard a hissing noise and looked down to see a blue magic circle starting to charge under our feet. The moment I looked away from their scout he shot an arrow and began to jump from the tree he was in. I shifted the shield to my shoulder and jumped in the way of Luna. To my relief I heard the arrow thunk into my large kite shield, blocking the shot from hitting her.

Luna nearly shouted through the rings, ("Get out of the circle!") before diving out herself. The rings must have targeted all of us because Maxwell and Piper dodged out of the circle only moments after her. A pair of fireballs roared over our heads toward the mage who blocked it with a sheet of ice. By then the two armored men had begun to charge at Maxwell and Piper who took up a fighting stance next to each other.

These three were matched, I needed to take out the scout before he managed to— Shit! I jumped to the side and collected another arrow with my shield before shifting to my wolf form and dashing toward the scout. I will not allow him to shoot again.

I bolted into the brush after him and heard him cry out in alarm when he saw my wolf form heading right for him. He leapt out of the tree and rolled into a tumble before running off into the woods. I grit my teeth, I didn't want to leave the three of them alone to fight but I couldn't allow him to find new cover and shoot more arrows. I would have to trust that the three of them are evenly matched with the others.

He wouldn't get away, his scent was clear to me now and his anxiety and fear stood out in the otherwise pleasant smelling forest. The man was fast and was dashing over roots and plants. More than once I had to dodge a monster that he had led me past on my hunt and I had to dodge the whipping vines that tried to catch me as I dashed by. He was slippery but it didn't take long for me to catch him.

I lifted him by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him off the ground. When I turned the man around to face me he actually pissed himself. The acrid scent made my nose wrinkle with disgust. I pulled the bow from him, snapped it in half, and tossed it away before pulling the quiver away from him as well. He didn't have a sword on him but he did have a belt of knives. I pulled it off of him and tossed the belt over by his broken bow. The man was hyperventilating now but I wasn't going to kill him. I sighed and threw him over my left shoulder before picking my axe back up by the handle and running back toward the clearing.

When I returned the battle was still in full swing. The man with the spear had already been knocked to the ground while Maxwell and Piper worked together on the one with the sword. I could hear the man on the ground still breathing but he seemed unconscious. Luna and the other mage were still fighting but he had an obvious advantage over her. Luna's spells were slow and powerful but the other mage's magic was fast and flighty. Each of Luna's spells broke one of the man's shields but Luna was getting overwhelmed by the sheer number of small spells she was deflecting with her own floating shields of fire.

I threw the scout to the ground and slammed the head of my axe right next to his face before leaning in close. "NO MOVE."

The shaking man pissed himself again and nodded fervently. I didn't leave him with any of his stuff and I didn't think he would be able to lift my giant axe. I bolted back into the trees and circled the clearing before coming behind the mage to wait for an opening.

("Luna! I'm behind him. Give me an opening and I'll knock him out!")

("Okay!") she half yelled through the rings. Her voice was panicked but from a distance, her demeanor looked calm. A large ball of fire collected above her head again as she continued to block the man's quick needle-like bolts of ice. I could hear his teeth grinding as he started to prepare another shield. He kept throwing more magic her way but he had to slow down to prepare his shield to block. The ball of fire got even larger and eventually rocketed toward him.

He stopped casting for a moment and rushed to lift up the wall of ice. The huge ball of fire crashed against the shield. It crumbled and exploded into a burst of steam, only barely stopping the fire from getting to him before it dissipated. Just as he was about to begin casting again I leapt in behind him and tackled him into the dirt. I tossed his staff away and gripped his lower jaw shut with one hand while my other grabbed his arms and pinned them behind him.

I could see Luna's relieved face off in the distance as I dragged the man over to her by his arms and head. Glancing over, Maxwell and Piper had finished off the two fighters and Piper was securing the scout who hadn't moved from where I left him. The fighter with the sword hadn't been as lucky as the spearman and was dead, though I'm not sure which of my friends had killed him. Maxwell was still currently stripping the knocked-out spearman of his armor and weapons.

("Luna, is this sufficient to stop him from casting?") I asked her.

("Probably not. We'll have to force his hands still.") Luna pulled off her bag and dug through it until she found some dirty bandages and used them to tie his hands into balls before essentially hog-tying the man. She also gagged him but was nice enough to gag him with clean bandages rather than dirty ones. I dragged the mage over to the other two people. The scout looked like he was going to die of fright still and the recently healed spearman was looking at Piper with seething anger. I dropped the mage near the others and looked over the three as I shifted back to my human form.

Well shit. Now what?