As I approached Suwlahtk with the leaf bundle in my hands, I thought about what I was going to do to explain the contents and how I found them. Surely they didn't expect this task to take an enormously long time, I thought, but only taking a day might be seen as too quick. I paused on the road, still some distance from the village, and considered whether or not I should spend some time waiting before I returned. My heads-up display showed me as hungry, though I didn't need it to tell me that, and my blue bars indicated that my long-term storage hadn't yet started to recover from the draining it had received. I should have been watching for biological contagions, I thought with a displeased sigh, even the other high-spec bodies I've used were technically susceptible to them, if only minorly.
I decided to wait until the end of the day before heading back in order to at least make the time I spent searching seem plausible. I stashed the leaf bag containing the retrieved body parts near the road in a spot that would not likely be visible from the outside and headed north, hoping to find something to eat. As luck would have it I found fruit trees and a small pond surrounded by the crab creatures I had eaten before. I made quick work of some of the crabs with my spear and lit a fire with my ability, then ate a significant amount of food before climbing a tree and having a nap. My rest the previous night, having been interrupted by nearly dying of hypothermia, was not nearly enough to keep me at an acceptable level of performance for a whole day.
I awoke in the tree to the light of the sun shining on my face. It was low in the sky, perhaps an hour or two from sundown. With a sharp inhale I let myself down to the ground, did my business in a bush, and walked back to the road. It seems the best option for the story is that I simply found remains near the tree and brought back the largest pieces, I thought, if they search for the rest and can't find it, the rats should provide a decent alibi, especially if I mention them. I found the leaf wrapping and picked it up again, quickly checking the inside to make sure everything was still there. But should I tell them about the rats? I wondered, They might know where the nests are and go searching. If they find the one I destroyed it could be a problem.
I walked at a brisk pace down the road until I saw the village, then slowed down to a pace that better resembled the one that the humans tended to walk at. As I moved closer to the center I could see more people, and they began detecting me as well. Many glanced at the package in my arms before looking away, though some stared for long enough that it was clear they were wondering what I was carrying. Once I entered the village proper I noticed that people were avoiding me more than usual, making scrunched-up expressions on their faces. The smell isn't even that strong though, I thought as I looked at the leaf package, are their noses better than mine?
Finally, I came upon the leader's hall and crossed from the rear to the front. Vowteyz was there as usual, and he walked up to me after flinching and shaking his head quickly. “What is that awful smell?” he hissed. I looked at the leaf wrapping in my hands, and his eyes followed my gaze to it as well.
“Do you want me to open this here, or inside the hall?” I asked.
“Here,” Vowteyz answered immediately, “don't even think about bringing that indoors.” I shrugged and set the wrapping down on the ground, then began carefully unwrapping it. The arrangement of leaves I had used was quite tight for something that was only bound by a few stems, so it took a few seconds to undo it properly. As I pulled the center-most leaf away, the stench of rot wafted out so powerfully that even I felt the urge to recoil, though I stayed in place. Vowteyz covered his face and stepped back, retching and suppressing a gag. A few of the other villagers who were nearby looked over at the commotion before Vowteyz angrily shooed them away.
“This is why I asked about opening it inside,” I said flatly.
“Is that...?” Vowteyz asked, trailing off and not finishing his sentence. I nudged the leaves a bit to roll the skull over and reveal the face, prompting another wave of disgust from Vowteyz.
“I'm assuming this is him,” I said. Vowteyz stepped back and turned around to face the door of the leaders' hall.
“I need to get... just wait here,” he stammered before pushing his way inside and shutting the door with a slam. With Vowteyz's presence gone the curious villagers began to approach again to get a better look. I knew when each one identified the contents of my delivery because each one yelped when they did. It was amusing to see half a dozen humans each perform the exact same action one after another as though the others had not just done it. The doors to the leaders' hall swung open and Vowteyz returned with the matriarch and patriarch, who both took one look at the body parts before gagging. The matriarch actually vomited while the patriarch tapped her back to comfort her, looking back at me angrily. I understand it's disgusting, I thought, but what did you expect?
“Is this Ahpoyt?” I asked once the matriarch had stopped throwing up and was standing straight again. The patriarch scowled at me, then winced as he looked down at the skull again.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
“You brought that back not knowing if it was him?” he snapped.
“Were there other hunters in the area who this could be?” I asked. I knew that it was unlikely as the description of Ahpoyt fit my memory decently well, but it was a logical question.
“No,” the matriarch muttered, “no that's his-” she stopped mid-sentence to cover her mouth and I thought she might vomit again, but instead she cleared her throat. “That's his head,” she continued, “where did you find him?”
“When following the road until passing over the bridge, eventually there is a meadow,” I answered. “Across that meadow to the west, there was a tree that was covered in blood near the base. I found a mangled body nearby. I brought back the largest pieces so that they could be identified.”
“The largest pieces?” the patriarch growled. “You mean to say there was not a full body?”
“As you can tell by examining the skull, the body was partially eaten,” I began, squatting down so that I could use my hands to aid my explanation. “Most of the softer parts were already gone, such as the eyes, nose, and brain. Organs were missing and the chest and abdomen had been completely emptied out. Additionally, one arm and the majority of both legs were gone, and the ribcage was shattered into pieces.” Everyone was quiet during my explanation.
“What of his gear?” Vowteyz asked, and I realized a problem that I hadn't considered. I had claimed Ahpoyt's gear after I abducted him and simply left the pieces which I did not want or need behind. Whoever had taken the gear from me when I was initially imprisoned was most likely still in possession of it.
“Some scraps of leather and fabric,” I lied, “no sign of any weapons or metal armor.”
“Impossible,” the patriarch snapped, “if you are trying to take them for yourself-”
“Where would I be hiding them?” I asked, interrupting him. “Ask your villagers, I only returned an hour ago. Are you suggesting that I found the gear and hid it somewhere to be picked up later? I suppose I could have done that, but why do something which doesn't benefit me? It isn't as though I can sell it to anyone.” The patriarch was still mad, but did not reply. “I can go out and try to find it if you want,” I offered, “I'll just need a list of what he had. I assume there was a spear and a knife at the very least, but any specialty gear will need to be listed.”
“Please, Yuwniht, go to your cabin,” the matriarch said quietly. “We will discuss how to proceed and return to you with an answer.” I stood up from my squat and looked at the humans.
“My pay?” I asked. Each of the humans looked at the others out of the corners of their eyes, as if I had said something absurd. “You didn't think I would simply wait for a lump sum at the end of my contract here, did you?” I asked with a hint of mockery.
“We need time-” the matriarch began to say, but I cut her off.
“Since I returned earlier than expected I'll give you until tonight to get it to me,” I said sternly. “Please know that I will be checking the value of the amount given to ensure you are not taking advantage of my lack of knowledge.” Not that I would know what an appropriate amount of currency is, I thought, but I can probably ask someone.
“O-of course,” the matriarch said with a short bow. The patriarch glared at me, but then also gave a similarly short bow. With that, I turned around and left the humans to their discussion, which near-instantly turned towards finding a suitably disliked guard to command to clean up the body parts which I had left on the ground. I crossed town, watching the light fade away as the sky slowly darkened. Once I reached my cabin the first thing I did was remove the majority of my gear, leaving only my knife, and headed to the creek.
This clothing is still filthy, I thought as I scrubbed yet more blood, grime, and dirt from my boots. There was still some leftover homemade soap sitting nearby so I used it as conservatively as I could on the dirtiest parts. To my shock, another growth was developing on my left ankle painlessly just like the first one on my neck. The entire area was numbed by some unknown process, leaving the surface skin all but immune to pain from compression and heat. As this growth was smaller than the first one it was easier to cut off, and a quick check of my heads-up display told me that it had not yet drained any significant amount of power from me. I need disinfectant of some kind, I thought, I could make it myself but it would take too long.
I bathed again, checking myself over for more cysts after incinerating the growth I had extracted. Once again there was nothing out of the ordinary. The incubation period must be variable, I thought with a sigh. As far as I knew both areas were places that had been directly exposed to the contents of the rat's nest because they were not covered by clothing. Do I risk it? I wondered as I stared at my hands. Eventually I decided not to, and as quickly as possible I skinned my arms up to the forearm, then my legs from the foot up to the halfway point of the calf. I considered doing the same to my face and head but decided to wait, as that would cause much more damage and blood loss.
It was very strange to me how simple cuts and scrapes would cause scars, but regenerating an entire section of skin left it looking nearly untouched. The only indication that it had been removed was a ring of scarring at the site of the initial cut. The skin regrowth took a surprising amount of time but was still unnaturally fast at around five minutes. Growing out more tissue takes longer than regenerating damaged tissue, I thought as I observed skin slowly creeping back down my arm, I suppose that is consistent with what I learned about the regrowth of digits. It also doesn't hurt to regrow, so the process must be different somehow.
Once I was done healing I walked back to my cabin, entered, and began eating. I was already quite hungry before arriving in the village, and removing large portions of my skin hadn't done anything to help the hunger. My stomach filled up with meat and vegetables rapidly until it was almost bursting, then I fetched my whetstones and began sharpening and modifying my weapons. I continued like this for hours, eating more as soon as I could, watching my physical recovery closely so that I could optimize it. I can't afford to be caught in a weakened state again, I thought, if they get any ideas, I need to be ready.