The sun was up when I awoke. No dreams came to me while I rested in the tree, apparently I had exhausted my quota back in the cave. Climbing down from the tree, I could see that the man's body had many insects crawling on it, and part of the arm I had thrown away was already missing. Good, I thought, it's working. I examined my stone axe in the light and found that the blade had actually been chipped in a few places, but thankfully the chips themselves had flaked off in such a way as to retain the sharp edge. I should find an iron replacement for this too, I thought.
After figuring out the best way to carry my gear so that it wouldn't otherwise impede my movement, I set off northward and reached the open meadow. The footprints that both I and the man left as we ran through it the night before were still visible to my eyes, as was the pool of blood that had been spilled onto the ground. It's odd, I thought, he must have lost at least a liter of blood before I began removing his head, possibly up to two liters. How did he still have so much in his body when he died? From my estimations I had spilled at least four liters of blood in total from the man, and his body was not even properly drained. The regeneration has to be taking materials from somewhere, I frowned.
Continuing northward across the meadow, it was only another two hundred meters before I reached what was unmistakably a road of some kind. Though it was not paved or cobbled, the line of compressed dirt and dead grasses was clearly traveled. Single line, I thought, either no vehicles or none that come out this far. I wonder why he thought that yelling and attracting attention would help him? Was he expecting someone? The road stretched off towards the northeast and southwest, with no signs or indication of which direction led where. I opted for the northeast, for obvious reasons.
The road wound back and forth seemingly at random, and pitched through multiple elevations. Eventually, after walking downhill on average for almost half an hour, trees began to appear in larger numbers and I entered into another forested lowland area. My stomach growled, but I ignored it, hoping that I would be able to acquire food through trade once I encountered some of the strange breed of human which inhabited the area. Or I could steal food, if necessary, I added mentally, once I find the village.
As the sun began to find its way overhead, my body started to sweat again from exertion. I wiped my brow and left a streak of partially dried blood, not mine of course, on my forehead. Right, I thought, I should probably clean up a bit before I talk to any of these people. They don't appear to be warbreed, so I doubt they would believe any excuse I could manage to communicate to them about being attacked. Perking up my ears, I began listening for the sound of water while walking along the trail, keeping my eyes out for people who could be coming from the opposite direction that I would want to avoid.
Just past noon I heard water, and soon enough I came upon a bridge which crossed overtop of another creek. Of the creeks I had seen, it was the largest, being a full ten meters across at least. The bridge was a strange design, both primitive but also indicative of a good amount of engineering knowledge on the part of its creators. On each end was a set of steps made of wood that elevated the crosser to a height of around two meters above the water. Between the sets of steps were three very thick ropes held together by a series of zigzagging smaller ropes for stability. The bottom rope, which was intended to be walked upon, was around ten centimeters in diameter and had a large amount of dirt caked into it.
How weird, I thought as I walked into the creek and swam out to a depth that I found comfortable, if they could make the stairs to elevate the structure they could easily have made a proper bridge. Though I suppose this one can be created much more quickly and only costs rope. If there are no vehicles that need to be used past it, it may be a rational choice if good quality wood is in short supply. I dove under the water and scrubbed myself, then emerged and looked around at the trees. I can't imagine why wood would be in short supply though, I thought with a mental shrug.
Opting to test the bridge instead of simply swimming across the creek, I climbed the steps and began crossing it. The ropes swung from side to side as I shifted my weight, but the relative shortness of the bridge limited the motion to a manageable level. At least it isn't as bad as when I had to cross that gorge on a rope bridge, I thought as I remembered an experience with a similar bridge from many years previous, I thought the winds alone were going to throw me off, and the footholds swung out ten meters when a gust blew by. On the other side of the creek I stepped down into the fresh dirt and kept walking along the path, the bridge vanishing back into the trees once I rounded a corner.
Another half-hour later, as I was walking, I began hearing voices from up ahead of me. “Ahpoyt yoyzoydh,” a high-pitched voice said as I carefully walked off of the road and began moving stealthily through the brush, “wehl saer jhihb.”
“Vehdh sheylm,” another high-pitched voice said, “Ahpoyt koyv poymayl.” I kept my half pace through the bushes and silently progressed forwards, finally seeing the source of the speech. Two humans, both with longer blonde hair and the same red eyes as the man, were walking along the path carrying baskets. Their style of dress was different from the man's, having lighter clothing that did not include tight pants, but instead longer flowing leg coverings. Neither of them wore a hood of any kind either, and besides some small knives neither appeared to be armed. Gatherers, I thought, probably no threat to me. I should observe.
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The two humans passed by me and walked towards the creek, chattering in their cryptic language as they did so. Thankfully neither of them seemed to have very good hearing because I did end up nearly giving away my position by stepping onto a fallen branch, which snapped it in half loudly. If they're out here, the village can't be far, I realized, no settlement would send someone very far with such light armaments. The two humans reached the creek and each set down their baskets, opening them up to reveal some earthen pottery as well as what appeared to be pieces of fishing rods.
“Vahz soyd vihmvao,” one of the humans said as they assembled the fishing rod. “Yihngao gowz eyhhay tpaot lahtzm maey.”
“Ae eywpao,” the other replied with a nod. I had noticed the gesture when I was interrogating the man as well. They nodded as a form of assent, but they did not seem to use the head shake gesture that warbreed did as dissent. Perhaps they have sensitive lateral balance? I wondered as the humans began casting their lines out. Within minutes, they were catching the small bony fish I had seen in the other creek and putting them inside the earthen pottery. Keeping them alive for some reason, I noted, maybe they lack the ability to preserve them?
One of the two humans sneezed, and the other laughed as the first shook its head as some kind of reaction. Okay, normal lateral balance then, I shrugged, these two also have a lack of facial hair now that I think about it. Maybe they are juveniles. Couldn't be females, their physiology almost exactly matches the man I killed. Perhaps pseudofemales? That would mean that they're warbreed though, so maybe the resemblance to creator humans is purely coincidence. The human who sneezed scratched its ear and looked over in my direction, causing me to duck back deeper into the bushes.
“Shih, gow zao foydh hhahp?” it asked, gesturing with a thumb towards where I was hiding. I was already moving as quickly and silently as I could when I heard the reply from the other human. “Gow zaooydh foydhb.” I watched from a new location as the two humans stuck their rods into the ground and walked over to the bush I had been watching them from. The one in the back drew its knife from its waist and prepared to strike anything that the one in front uncovered.
“Zao, leyfoydh,” the human who hadn't sneezed said, gesturing to the empty space.
“Ler viyt,” the other replied, pointing to the ground, “siymnpoylmz.” I began retreating further into the woods, getting as much cover between myself and the pair of humans as possible. They saw the footprints, I thought, rather the boot prints. Once I had retreated to a distance of around a hundred meters, I scampered up a tree and began leaping from one tree to another. I traveled by tree for at least fifty meters from where I had climbed up, then I descended again. They're aware of the trick, but this should take them some time if they try to track me, I thought as I made a northwest path back towards the road.
Knowing my time might be short before the humans came back along the road after finishing their fishing, I doubled my pace northward and further ignored my protesting stomach. Opening my heads-up display confirmed that I did have a good amount of organic material to draw on, so technically eating was optional. My consumption rate of material had also slowed since my first few nights for some reason. I should try to consume something by the time night falls though, I thought as I jogged along beside the path, I wouldn't want my reserves to run low. My water reserves were also topped up from my time in the creek, but they were draining much faster than my food. Such an annoying body to maintain, I grumbled, maybe I should get a canteen or waterskin. I had worn canteens in the past but rarely ever had to make use of them. They were for show only, or for hiding weapons inside of.
All at once, the path rounded a corner and I dove off into the bush in surprise, rolling into the last bit of cover before another large open space. Peeking out, I saw a large circular clearing that looked to be just under two kilometers in diameter, with a small village situated in the rough center of it. It appeared that there were around twenty to thirty dwellings and ten other buildings, though what exactly constituted a dwelling was difficult to determine from such a distance since I was unfamiliar with the architecture. Around the outer edges of the village were haphazardly scattered growing fields, and from where I was squatting I could see people milling about in them.
Most of the buildings were made of wood, with a few being made of a combination of stone and wood. All were roughly rectangular with roofs that were covered in grasses. Most buildings had a chimney though a few did not, I suspected that those buildings were likely not dwellings. Moving my head around, I didn't observe any reflections, so it appeared that the windows did not have any glass in them. The paths between the buildings were also just dirt, with no stone to be found on them. Low to medium tech, likely lacking gunpowder and electrical technology, I concluded, however, I should watch out for out-of-category tools considering their regeneration ability. It's impossible to know what they could be hiding.
In the sky, the sun was several hours from setting. I had a choice to make: attempt to enter the village, or wait until the humans began their rest cycles and conduct a scouting mission. My stomach growled again and I felt my mind shifting towards the former decision, but I knew the latter was the safest option. I looked around for fruit trees, saw none, and sighed. I'll just wait then, I thought, I should take a nap anyway so that I'm not drowsy when I'm scouting. A nearby tree had branches that practically invited me into it and a cradle so comfortable that I found relaxation very easy. I peeked out of the leaves at the village from my resting spot, felt a twinge of anticipation, then closed my eyes again and rested.