Chapter 94: Chapter 85 – Feathered Lizards, and some Bandits out of Luck

"Throughout written history, the northern parts of Alcidea, with its rolling plains and abundant wildlife, have always been tribal lands. Orcs inhabited the north-west, goblins the center-north, and elves the north-east. Alliances ans conflicts had happened in equal measures between the multitudes of tribes that called northern Alcidea their homes." - excerpt from "History of Civilization in Alcidea"

 

As she neared the northern border of the Union, Cal noticed that the villages grew sparser, as the Union and the goblins that inhabit the vast savannas - often just called the Goblin Dominion by others - rarely bothered each other. Their contact with one another was mostly that of trade, and between the two areas was a half-day's travel by carriage that was considered a no man's land.

 

Due to its nature, several bandit groups made their base in the no man's land, since patrols from either side rarely strayed into the area. Most bandits that had been in the business long enough knew that lone travellers - especially ones on foot - are bad news more often than not. One of the newer - and larger - groups of bandits however thought the lone traveller that had just strolled into their territory as easy prey.

 

So Cal found herself accosted and surrounded by approximately eighty dirty, smelly, uncouth bandit types.

 

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She asked no one in particular with some exasperation over the unasked for disturbance.

 

"Now, now, lady, no need for such crude words~" said a muscular but obese bandit with prominent bucktooth. "Just hand over your valuables all nice and tidy now~ me and the boys will show you some good times afterwards~"

 

Cal cringed with some disgust at the leer the bandit aimed her way, and with a sigh, decided to just let these bandits serve as stress relief since they already delivered themselves. Normally she would be much calmer, but these bandits caught her right when she was in the middle of the throes of her yearly period. She had been in a rather cranky mood these past few days.

 

"Yeah, might as well get this over and done with…" she muttered in a low voice. At the same time, her left hand reached behind her back, unsheathed one of her dwarven made knives, and flung it at the bandit that leered at her in an underhand throw. The recurved blade whirled through the air and embedded itself right in the bandit's face, directly in between his buck teeth.

 

Cal gave a little smirk of satisfaction at the sight, grabbed her crescent-bladed halberd with her right hand, and drew a few throwing knives with her left as she charged at the bandits much like how a wolf would have charged a flock of sheep.

 

The poor bandits never stood a chance. Lucky ones found instant deaths by way of decapitation or throwing daggers to the head. Unlucky ones were left in piles on the grass as they slowly suffocated in their own blood, or desperately tried to cram their scattered organs back inside their bodies. One unfortunate bandit even somehow crawled away a distance with only the upper half of his body, since it was severed just above the waist.

 

When one of the bandits ran a little too far away, she whipped out the large windlass crossbow she bought back in Knallzog, loaded a bolt, and fired all in one smooth motion. The bolt whistled through the air before it embedded itself firmly at the back of the runner's head, who toppled dead to the ground after he took a couple more steps.

 

At this point some of the bandits trembled and tried to surrender, but Cal gave them no quarter, and one sweep of her halberd sent heads into the air.

 

"C'mon now, assholes! If you want to bandit, bandit properly for fuck sakes! Stop being sniveling cowards crying for your mom's teats!" She cursed as she chased after the now thoroughly spooked bandits, and hunted them down one by one.

 

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A good distance away from the bloodshed, two male human sat astride their horses, atop a small hill. The older of the two, a middle-aged man with fine but roughened features, handed an expensive spyglass to the younger male, who resembled him quite a bit that to guess they were family would likely not be incorrect.

 

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"Quentin, my son, do you see now why I have always forbidden preying on lone travellers?" Asked the older man. The younger one still looked at the ensuing carnage far away through the spyglass with utter awe on his features. "One little bit of bad luck, and you might share Bheg's fate today. Those who travelled by their lonesome, are either poor and desparate and thus not worth the effort, or the powerful who needed no escort."

 

"But come now, let us make haste and be off. We need to have the men ready and marching to Bheg's lair to claim his riches before others beat us to the punch."

 

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Cal was not unaware of the presence of spectators. While the distance was too far for human eyes to have noticed, she barely could make out the silhouettes of the two horseback spectators. She decided not to bother with them as long as they minded their own business, however.

 

Out of the bandits that had surrounded her, none remained. A few were still in the agony of a slow death, but those were not of her concern. She calmly went around the carnage and collected her throwing knives, as well as bolts that were still reuseable. She had not forgotten the knife she threw first either, as she extracted it from the bandit leader's face with a squelch.

 

The stench in the area was that of a carnage, a horrific mixture of blood, shit, piss, and guts that stunk to high heaven. The stench also attracted predators, as Cal saw a pack of ten or so creatures approach. The creatures were bipedal lizard like creatures with tiny, underdeveloped arms. They stood about as tall as her chest atop a pair of powerful, muscular legs that ended in wicked claws, and had maws with rows of dagger-like fangs.

 

They also had brilliant plumage that covered their entire bodies, in shades of colors that seemed to shift based on the angle the sun's rays struck it. The lizards sniffed cautiously as they neared the carnage, before they started to feast on the bandit corpses furthest away from Cal.

 

Out of curiosity, Cal approached the creatures. They snapped their heads up and looked at her warily, but made no moves to threaten her. She had not realized it, but ever since she was in a cranky mood, her control over her mana had slipped a little, and wild animals were particularly sensitive to it. They eyed her much like they would an apex predator, with resignation and fear.

 

She walked over to the lizard with the most brilliant plumage. The creature stiffened at her approach, and even trembled a little. Cal plucked around fifth choice feathers off the stiff creature, which she stored, because she suddenly had the urge to grab some souvenirs for Xain. She then left the creature behind without harming it.

 

If it was human, the feathered lizard she plucked the feathers from would have exhaled in utter relief once she had left. The lizards looked blankly at one another, unsure what to make of the unusual development, before they collectively gave a metaphorical shrug and busied themselves with the grand feast laid out before them.

 

The few bandits who had the misfortune to still be alive somehow after the carnage, found their ends in the mouths of hungry feathered lizards, or worse, were dragged back by the creatures to their nests, where they were fed to the small lizards that had just hatched a short while ago.

 

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