I wasn’t sure exactly how long I would have to wait to make sure the trees didn’t have a second flush of fruit, but after a few days of boring monitoring, I decided it was time to move on.
The trees gave me pause. It didn’t feel right to just leave them there. I didn’t have any idea how they would affect the ecosystem, and I didn’t know if they would become active and fruit-bearing again. In the end, I decided to burn them, containing the fire with air magic and then smothering the ashes with water magic. It was a waste, but I didn’t want to release something into this world that could fundamentally get out of my control before I understood what I was doing.
With that settled, Treepo and I rode Buda back towards the road, racing to meet up with our convoy and companions.
We were already many, many days behind, maybe even a month since I left them, although the convoy was traveling at an oxalire’s pace and Buda was much faster at full speed. Catching up was still possible before they reached the capital. Rather than cut through the forest and grassland, I decided to follow the road and take a look at the other convoys heading north. Despite being the longer route, it would probably work out to be the faster option if I avoided the temptation to stop and check out every new beast I encountered on the way.
Buda raced west, emerging from the forest and passing through grassland, long dry yellow stalks whipping past us as we rode. The cold winter air stung my face, though it was thankfully above freezing as winters had always been for me in this world. I wondered idly how far north I would have to travel to see winters with snow. Surely the mountains are snow-capped, I thought.
Despite the cold, it was bright with clear skies and overall a really rather lovely crisp winter day. I had my cloak around me for some extra warmth which helped stave off the worst of the sting of the cold air on my body, though my face was growing a bit numb. I had cleared a dungeon, leveled up, gained a wealth of magic fruit, and was headed back to meet my friends on the road.
My good mood ended when we reached the road and saw the ruined convoy.
* * *
Stepping delicately through the carnage, I tried to figure out what had happened. Bandits? No, I thought. The goods were still there, though some of the wagons were tipped over. The bodies, on the other hand…
There weren’t enough bodies for a convoy of this size, and the ones that remained were torn apart. This had been a beast attack.
I frowned, thinking. I had more or less never actually encountered a proper beast attack on humans outside of my own hunting. I knew it was a danger, but this was still startling to look at.
Two problems lay before me, one practical and one emotional. The first was whether or not I should leave what I had found. There was a lot of value just sitting in the road, and I didn’t know what kind of salvage rights this world had. Was it stealing, to take from the dead? Surely, the next convoy that passed by would take what they could from what they found, if I didn’t.
The second problem was what to do about the beasts. Did I leave the problem alone, and just worry about my own convoy? Should I hunt down what did this? It–or they, if it was a group of beasts–could be headed south, away from my convoy, but that would doom whoever was coming from Roko next.
I decided I wasn’t above salvaging the goods. It wasn’t piracy or theft, since the owner was dead. Perhaps a relative of the owner could make a viable claim on the value, but in a world like this I just didn’t know how that could happen. I wasn’t even sure if there was insurance in this world, particularly on convoys. I would have to ask Marshan the next time I saw him.
Looking through the goods was easy. Looking over the remaining bodies was much harder. I collected weapons and armor first, whatever was still in good condition or worthwhile, usable materials that a smith might want, and tucked that away into my inventory. Since I was at it anyway, I lined the bodies up as respectfully as I could at the side of the road. Most were missing pieces, which made the lineup rather gruesome, but it was the best I could do.
The slaughtered oxalire were almost entirely eaten, which made me think that was the true target of the predator that attacked this convoy. The humans were just casualties in trying to defend themselves and their livelihoods.
What a waste, I thought. You should have just run.
The goods were more of the same supplies Marshan was delivering for the kingdom. There was a lot more than I could carry, so I picked out what was most valuable.
I felt loaded down well before I had everything I wanted stored, so with a sigh, I started eating some skillfruit. I suffered through 12 of them to put points into my inventory skill while riding Buda back toward the forest where I dumped some of the bones, offal, and other dismantled items and junk I didn’t really require, making some extra room in my inventory and alleviating my discomfort from carrying too much.
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By the time the road was back within sight, there was another convoy approaching the wreck from the south. I slowed Buda down, and cast invisibility over us.
If the south road was fine, then the predators might be headed north.
I left the rest of the mess to the people who had arrived and we sped away up the road towards the next convoy.
If we couldn’t outrun the predators, Marshan and my convoy might be in trouble.
* * *
Screams filled the air as we came upon the next caravan. I wasn’t in time to stop the beasts from attacking, but maybe I could save some of these people.
Beasts pounced from out of the grass, grabbing people and chunks of oxalire, tearing flesh and slinking away back to the safety of the grass. Guards stood on alert, trembling and panicked, trying to sight the incoming danger before they were caught by surprise.
I still hadn’t seen a single dead beast. Whatever they were, they were incredibly successful and agile ambush predators. From the flashes I could see, they were smaller than I would have thought, but there must be a lot to cause this much destruction so fast.
I wanted to help, but I didn’t want to expose myself too much, especially not my magic. If I was limited to the sword, I wasn’t confident one of these beasts wouldn’t get teeth on me and tear me up. My mind raced through the possibilities.
The dry grass swayed around me, brushing against my arms and face.
It could get out of hand… but it would smoke them out…
Focusing on the area I thought the beasts were hiding, I ignited the grassland, flames bursting to life and rapidly spreading in the dry grass.
Surprised yelping cries rang out and I saw the grass shaking as the beasts fled in various directions, some running into the road to escape the fire, and I finally got a good look at one.
The beast was a medium-sized quadruped, long snout and forward facing eyes and ears. A long, whipping tail flicked behind it as it rolled in the dirt of the road to get the burning, striped fur extinguished. The orange and black was an easily recognizable sight, even on the wrong shaped creature. The coyote-tiger beast, fire extinguished, turned and snarled at the guard that had approached to dispatch the foe, but too late to avoid the sword that came down at its neck.
The first non-convoy casualty sent a cheer up through the guards. They had a chance.
Appraising the beast told me it was called a pannid, and now that they were pushed to move, I was detecting quite a lot of them. They seemed to be about rank D, which alone would be manageable, but a pack of beasts that could have each been an apex predator alone on Earth was a huge problem when added together.
The pannid pack was regrouping away from the blaze. I ignited the grass where they were coming back together to scatter them further, and used wind and some moisture from the air to prevent the blaze from spreading wildly out of hand. It was a delicate balance to manage, but soon enough the grass around the road had cleared substantially, giving the convoy a defensible position out of range from rapid-fire ambushes.
Putting the fire out entirely, it was time to join the fray.
“Are you all right?” I called out, riding up on Buda, drawing a sword and dismounting.
A guard glanced away from the grass line at me, then back to the hidden threat.
“Not sure where you came from, kid, but you should run. Let us handle this.”
I twirled my sword around, brandishing to display some quick slashes.
“I’m a pretty good fighter. Let me help.”
The guard nodded, and we waited and watched.
Despite the pack having feasted on the previous convoy, they weren’t ready to abandon this one. We would need to break their spirit further before they would run off, or we would need to kill them all.
A pannid leapt from the grass at me, and I ducked and rolled, turning on the beast to strike at it. It was too fast, and was already slinking away.
Another beast went for Buda, but that was a mistake. The comparably-ranked beast was my familiar and max level, and he twisted his head to gouge out the middle of the beast, flipping it over him with a derisive snort. I fell on the beast to deliver a definitive killing blow, making sure it didn’t get back up.
Treepo was up on the convoy wagon, scanning, and I heard him chitter at me. I leapt forward just as another pannid tried to land a surprise strike, driving my sword into the beast before it could respond, cutting it open in midair.
Bit by bit, between the guards and myself and my familiars, we landed blows killing members of the pack and turning the tide of the battle. After a while, the pack’s will broke, and they turned to flee.
The tension in the air started to break with sighs and, after a moment, whoops as the convoy switched from fear to celebration.
“Not bad, kid,” the guard said to me, walking over after wiping the blood off his blade. “Your, uh, companions did good too.”
“Yeah, they’re good boys,” I said with a grin. “Happy I could help.”
The guard looked me over more closely, though I had my cloak on to cover up my harder to explain muscles and armor. It had taken some swipes in the attack from claws and I would have to do some mending of it later, which angered me since this was a gift from Sharma, but gear was made to be used and some damage was inevitable.
“You did, at that. Though that fire was the real hero. I wonder who set it,” he said, looking back at his convoy.
“Smart thinking, whoever did, although it was lucky it didn’t get out of hand with all this winter grass.”
The guard nodded, but had lost interest in me, so he thanked me again and headed over to his companions to celebrate.
“All in a day’s work, citizen,” I joked under my breath, grabbing a couple corpses for my inventory to study later before anyone noticed. I glanced at Buda and Treepo. “Let’s get going. We’ve got a capital to get to.”