Chapter 35: Cheep!? 34

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Cheep!? 

Chapter 34

Charles could feel his heart beating again, and gradually felt his essence return to their normal flows. It was like his body went from being underwater, deprived of oxygen, to suddenly being given a breath of fresh air. Freedom was his again, and Charles couldn’t help but shiver as he curled in a little bit more on himself. Warm trails of essence were the only real comfort he had, and he tried to put his focus as much as possible on feeling how it moved through his body.

The snake was delicious… arguably the best meal he’d ever had. Everything else had been a feathering shit show.

‘I knew it was a trap… but I didn’t expect that. Freaking instincts are birdshit.’ Charles’ throat clenched as he suppressed a warbling cry, before pushing with his legs more and stuffing himself under some bushes. The confined area helped him feel a little bit safer. The fact that people could just slap a collar on an animal to detain them hadn’t even occurred as a possibility to Charles. ‘I should have suspected. But, I…’ 

He shook his head, and stuffed it underneath one of his winged arms, sheltering further from the world. ‘Paranoia is still not the answer. Ugh, this drug is clucking awful.’ With a mixture of relief at his ordeal being done, and an uneasy edge from what he could only describe as trauma. Now that he wasn’t in immediate danger and was freed of the collar’s restraining effects, Charles could assess what had happened a little more fully, although whatever concoction it was that was in his system was still slowly being processed.

His body was numb, but he was already beginning to regain feeling. With little more to do than be patient, he steadily felt his body for changes, moving where he could. It helped to distract from his darker thoughts, irrationally telling him that he’d never move the right way again. That his siblings were locked in their own bodies, unable to do more than shriek at their limbs as they moved to commands not their own. He recognized the thought as the taint of the drugs in his system, but still, Charles shuddered; he disgorged stomach acid violently in disgust and hopefully purged more of the medicine in his system.

After a few seconds Charles scrambled up to his knees and vomited still more onto the forest floor. A slightly shimmering oil accompanied gastric acids, but nothing solid. He dry heaved more, the idea of being drugged rocked through him again, extending the heaving into a ragged session of breath and barf. Admittedly, that did make him feel a great deal better, some of the fugue fleeing him.

He staggered back to his bush before flopping unceremoniously back beneath it. If nothing else, his stomach didn’t feel nearly as tight now. 

‘I was ready to die.’ Charles let out choked sobs, frustrated at how weak he felt. He didn’t want to die, but he didn’t want to live like that either. Just the fact that he was ready to make that choice terrified him after the fact. Yet, he didn’t regret it either. If it ever happened again, he’d go harder to break the contact immediately, do whatever it took, no matter what it might cost, so that he wouldn’t be put in that situation again.

That line of thought brought him to the group. His initial reaction to their memory was a flush of cold rage, the desire to murder the paladin in their sleep in a way anathema to his normal instincts. But that rage depleted as he dwelled on the encounter.

He knew that the illusion of good and bad were just social constructs, but from his perspective, were they bad people? Objectively, yes, even under the best assumptions that they were going to try to move him out of this territory, that was in and of itself something unfair. But, from their perspective, they were probably doing the right thing. Charles scoffed, knowing that the line between a good and bad person was rarely ever so straightforward as that. Just because he was in another world didn’t change that basic fact, it seemed.

Charles wanted to be able to hate them, and he knew that if he just stopped trying to understand what had happened, then he could easily do just that. He could hate them all. Every last one of the thieving, conniving humans who oppressed one another and found beasts to further drive down into the mud. Them and their murdering, deceiving ways that they readily employed against one another because of greed and envy, or the callous disregard for others. It would be so easy… And if he’d had to break that collar himself, he felt certain that whatever thing deep within him that he’d felt would have happily helped him become a calamity upon people and gods alike. 

There was something strange about the sense, just like when he’d had that dream so long ago of an egg with myriad parts and creatures within, chaos incarnate. It was innate and yet wholly alien to Charles. He didn’t like that sensation at all.

Charles also knew that he could never live with himself if he took the easy way out, not on this. Because at the end of the day, he’d been human, he knew that they made mistakes, but they weren’t all bad. Then there was the deal he’d made with Alterra - one that he was finding a bitter pill to swallow more and more as time went on - surely she had humans and other humanoids in her purview. But even besides that he had other immediate concerns. 

Charles needed to find his siblings, now even more than before. The human family could wait; he wasn’t even sure that he needed to see them anymore. Part of him wanted to be angry at Alterra for everything, too, but again, he could see why she did what she did. He wouldn’t be happy with it, but self-preservation was a powerful reason to do a lot of things.

What those people had done to Charles… Was that self-preservation, greed, or the greater good? Charles tried to file the hurt away into a box, as much as he could, and thought about everything he’d observed and heard. The elf woman knew that he could understand at least to some extent, so he decided that, while still  bordering on paranoia, he needed to take every fact presented with a grain of salt. Everything could have been an elaborate ruse to deceive- ‘Alright, no, that’s not likely. They had the col-’ Charles breathing hitched and he rushed past the thought quickly ‘-thing on me. I was restrained. So, if the armored lady had been willing to go that far on me in the first place, that means that she’s either paranoid, or there’s an established reason why they would do that. Of course, it doesn’t help that I lost my mind thanks to a near overdose, but that wasn’t my fault. Is it what it looks like on the surface though, everything just clucked up in the worst way?’ 

It didn’t take long for him to realize that they’d called him an ‘aberrant’ whatever that entailed. He suspected that they tended towards uncommon behavior, traits, maybe even abilities, and potentially they were a greater threat to people. While Charles wasn’t sure, he figured that there was a distinct likelihood that these potential manhunters weren’t suffered in the lower tier areas. He assumed that meant tier areas referred to the ambient essence levels, in general, rather than some other as yet unknown trait. On that same note, that means that the higher tier essence areas would be more inherently dangerous because there were more manhunters? ‘Am I getting that right? Are they… or ‘we’ I suppose, too hard to hunt, or too many?.. I’m not sure which one I would prefer…’

He decided that they weren’t entirely in the wrong, then, but he couldn’t bring himself to be fully okay with having been collared. Charles took a few deep breaths, trying to fight off the queasy feeling in his gut before he started dry heaving all over the place again. 

Beyond that, unless he was being incredibly naive and misreading what was spoken, the alternative option would have been to ply him with food to get him into a more amenable mood where the elf woman would have tried to do that strange essence connection thing. ‘The funny thing is that, yes, it’s grossly irresponsible and unsafe from a normal person’s point of view. I am a large, predatory bird who has a confirmed kill and admittedly beaten the fluff out of some rookie teams.’ He chortled musically at that, ‘But, that might have worked. I might have been willing if she came at me from that angle.’

Charles wasn’t under any illusion that the connection extended to him didn’t feel like home in a way he couldn’t place. It was like his nest, the riverbend that he fished at, the notched tree and the well-trod upon paths he’d taken, all in one. The sensation of warm sunlight and misty spray on his feathered hide played across his memory. His instincts were certainly partly to blame for how accepting he was of that, which made him all the warier.

If it weren’t for the collar and his own self-awareness, maybe he would have actually accepted that connection. 

‘Is this a beast thing?’ Charles shivered, ‘Am I going to have to be vigilant for that kind of thing from now on?’ 

Any thought of comfort slowly bled away, replaced by the cold, restrained vice of a loop around his neck. Charles swallowed hard while his throat seemed to constrict; his breath came out in shorter, faster beats, quickly picking tempo with the staccato rhythm of his heart. 

After several minutes of wrestling the sensation down, he managed to breathe deeply and dispel the choking sensation that wrapped around his mind. Charles didn’t think about anything in particular for several minutes after that, instead just staring at the ground aimlessly. A few ants marched by, carrying leaves to their colony, wherever that was. Charles must have seen smaller bugs a hundred thousand times, but he never really thought much of them. They were small and shiny, totally harmless as far as he could tell. Briefly, Charles wondered if monster ants existed in this world, an errant thought that brought his wits back with a shudder. 

Finally, the Phorus climbed its way out from his perch, ignoring the sick smell in the air from where he’d vomited. He thought very hard about what he wanted to do before he began to walk in the direction that the group had moved in, his mind reviewing the things that they’d said, the way that they’d moved. He wished he could try to say that this was on the basis of pure logic or pragmatism, but there was more, a gut feeling.

They’d made a mistake, but they’d also owned up to that mistake. The collar was to ensure that even if taming him had failed, he’d be under control, no longer a threat to people in the area for a short while. He had felt how the collar had strained against him, and he didn’t doubt that in a matter of hours at most he could have broken it. The fact that they’d released him was a considerable risk on their part, for all they knew he was a dangerous, angry, confused and drugged up aberrant. Charles didn’t know what to make of Reese’s words though, that part still confused him. He almost didn’t want to rip her throat out through the top of her skull. But, releasing him wasn’t a step to forgiveness, just a forbearance of judgment from him; there was a much longer road to forgiveness if that was what he even wanted to give them the opportunity to pursue.

Charles could only imagine what he’d looked like at the time, a visage of a being ready to die, angry and utterly disappointed in the world. Beaten, and broken in ways that a normal person wouldn’t– and shouldn’t – be, but still baring their fangs even when his thoughts were mired in bleak suffering. He knew the feeling too well, and had seen it in the faces of those dying like he had in a hospital on earth.

The elf had gotten the worst of it, though. Charles had been ready to destroy his own mind to destroy the bond that had touched upon his psyche. With how everything had felt to him, it was no wonder why Skye had recoiled like that. She’d had a warm essence, feeling like a home at peace, and Charles had overwhelmed that connection with a long history of pain and despair to break it apart.

Charles winced. ‘Yeah, that’s a bit clucked up. I’m not sorry, but… Hmm.’ He shook his head, knowing that she’d felt in that moment how ready he was for it all to end, one way or another. 

Instead of fighting him, she’d recoiled and turned into a sobbing, weeping mess. At the time, Charles didn’t care, but now with the benefit of distance, he felt both gratified that she seemed genuinely distraught, and somewhat remiss that things had to be that way in the first place.

And ultimately, that played into why he might follow them anyways. They’d recognized that they had done the wrong thing, set him free, and were then willing to take responsibility for his actions. He knew that meant they’d have to come and kill him if he got out of hand, but that didn’t bother him. Death in combat for one's actions wasn’t something he was worried about. What really mattered to him had nothing to do with what they could do to him, but what he could do to them. 

Charles’ instincts were problematic in that he couldn’t deny that he might be making some of these decisions off of them without realizing it. He then started to list out what reasons he might possibly have for following them to himself.

‘Firstly, is that I don’t think they’ll attempt that again. If they do, then I’ll kill them and write humanity off,’ That much he had to work with as a baseline, regrettably. It wasn’t ideal, but if he needed to become a manhunter to get to his siblings, then he would. It would make everything harder in the long run, but he’d accept the tradeoff. ‘Moreover, the paladin clearly knew something else about me, or she was spewing cryptic birdshit for no reason. Considering the hole I put in her, I’ll lean towards her not intentionally trying to ruffle my feathers. It’s not ideal, but I can leverage any guilt they might have and the fact that Skye may seek forgiveness for what she did to my advantage. It’s scummy, but my family comes first. There’s a lot of unknowns still, but at least my attack against the paladin did a lot of damage.’ 

‘I’ll follow them for now and… we’ll see.’ He tracked them by the footprints and disheveled forest they’d left in their wake. Whatever it was that prevented them from leaving tracks before, it wasn’t active now. He did note that he still couldn’t smell them at all, all of the scents were those that belonged in the forest. 

It was frustrating to know that someone could mask their scent so well. While he didn’t necessarily know for sure, he figured the woman with all of the potions and apothecary gear was probably the one that had managed the concoction. Or perhaps the elf woman? She did seem to be the woodland type. 

As he moved, he thought of all the times someone had done something wrong and refused to admit it out of mismanaged pride. If nothing else, this group could admit when they had messed up. Charles didn’t need to find a perfect group, he needed to find a responsible group. On that note, knowing how they handled this amongst themselves would also be important, because  they, very clearly, had not been on the same page with their plan earlier, or with the way things had played out.

He would judge them further, and at the very least Charles figured he could learn more about the world through them. 

 

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The Greenhorns were quiet as they trudged through the greenery, Skye in the lead. No one had spoken, save for to confirm directions to a few general points where the poachers' cart was expected to have traveled through. The silence wore the heaviest of all on the paladin, though Skye couldn’t bring herself to feel bad for the woman.

“Cart passed through here,” Skye said shortly, her temper still flinty as she reconfirmed their direction, shifting silently on light footed steps. She didn’t pressure her essence outwards into the forest now, it wasn’t worth the expenditure when they weren’t actively on the hunt for known prey. Her full-body essence pattern worked wonders in allowing her to turn her control into an external tool, but it had limits.  

Skye turned over the earlier debacle in her head as she went. Everything had started out so well. ‘Well, not that well,’ she immediately reflected, ‘The plan basically got hijacked immediately. Everything went so Bant’s arse badly!’ Skye glanced back at the paladin, and then to Mithel afterwards. If it weren’t for her friend, she wouldn’t have entertained the paladin’s entry into their party, though perhaps the guildmaster would have made that non-optional, so she tried not to hold it against her too much. They hadn’t even been wrong that doping the food was a safer option with their concerns, from a general populace preserving perspective and for the safety of rookies. That was one thing, but the collar was another, that was a violation of trust of the highest degree. That had annihilated any good faith Skye had in the woman, and the paladin knew it. 

Mithel shifted uncomfortably, and Skye only then realized she was glaring at her. She forcibly shifted to an awkward barely-smile and nod. It wasn’t Mithel’s fault, Skye repeated in her head again, not wanting to lay spite at her feet. Even with that, Skye couldn’t help but wonder why her friend had seemed okay with the paladin’s presence in the first place.

All Skye knew was that paladins didn’t always do right by everyone, sometimes they only did right by their own teachings. Usually the two didn’t conflict, but in rare cases like today, the difference could cause problems. 

Skye knelt down, frowning as she looked at the indents in the ground where the cart must have stopped for at least a few minutes. 

“It looks like the cart stopped here, so we’ll take a quick break.” Skye said as she stopped her march and looked over her team. They had a fairly decent spread of capabilities that let them handle most things that came at them. Skye was familiar with them, and she could even pick up on the little tells they had when they were uncomfortable or nervous. And she could tell they were both.

Skye was both, too, but she tried not to let it show on her face. She curled her hair back behind her right ear while she considered the others. Mithel was the easiest to gauge, her normally vibrant and lively eyes seemed more dull, like tarnished metal, and she stared more at the ground in front of her than up ahead of her. 

Ronald was a little stiffer in the face, his jaw a little more set than it normally was, but that was the only real tell aside from how he pointedly didn’t look backwards to the paladin. Dachna looked the most relaxed of them all. 

Skye noted that he was probably very much not, since the only time he ever looked this relaxed was when he was doing it on purpose. 

After the others moved forward near the trees, Skye noticed the paladin pause as she looked between the group. “I've got business to take care of, I’ll be back.” 

‘At least she has the decency to leave us to our own problems first.’ Skye just barely managed not to snort as the paladin moved through the trees, far enough away that she wasn’t in earshot, save for shouting. 

The Greenhorns said nothing as they shifted backpacks down onto the ground, but none of them sat down. 

“You know it’s not your fault, right?” Ronald directly said to Mithel, “There was a lot that went wrong, but that’s not on you. And the… thing that happened with Reese and Skye, not your fault, either.” 

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“It’s fine, everyone’s just a little tense. We just need to do better in the future.” Mithel gave a little shrug, trying to play it off, but Dachna wasn’t going for it. 

“No, no, wait a minute, first off, Skye needs to knock that glaring shit off,” Dachna said pointedly, “It wasn’t Mithel’s fault that Phorus somehow stuffed its gob with an entire ten meter long snake! Second,” He turned to Ronald with that, “I get you siding with the team, but the paladin wasn’t wrong.”  

“Hold on, I’m fine!” Mithel hurriedly declared, “I get it, things are heated and–”

“It’s not fine, Mithel, even Ronald doesn’t think so, otherwise he wouldn’t have said anything.” Dachna gestured to the big man, and Mithel paused to look at Ronald, who reluctantly gave a small nod.

Skye felt her face contort into a blend of betrayal and outrage at that, but Dachna plowed on through what she was going to say, “It was a dumb idea not to tell us about her plan, but the restraining collar ain’t that bad! I’ve worn the damn things myself before! I’ll grant that Reese pushed her damn luck with being that close to a doped up beast, but after he lashed out with a kick like that? Pox, Skye, that could have been Mithel administering an antidote, or any one of us! I don’t think any of us would have survived that. Do you?” 

As he ranted on, Skye grew more silent and contrite. She didn't think that she could have survived a strike, but she also didn’t think he would have done that if they’d have just given him space.

Dachna read the resistance in her expression, and scoffed, “The plan was on its way out Bant’s bloody arsehole the moment he ate the snake. We didn’t plan for a failure like that in any way shape or form. And now, we’ve got a potentially drug-addled, angry, confirmed manslayer without a restraining collar roaming around. I really can’t express how much I think that’s a mistake here, but we’re a team, and we made that choice. So, I’ll deal.” Dachna huffed, a bit of his fire going out of him, only to surge back a moment later, “Actually, hold on, one more thing, are we not gonna talk about how you full-blasted Reese in the gods cursed skull?”

That was something that Skye knew had no real place for. It wasn’t okay just because Reese didn’t push the issue, and her punching back wasn’t necessarily in the good category, either. 

Ronald sighed, “It’s… alright, that is a big problem, I’ll admit. Normally I’d want to do this in town,” he had a grudging expression at Dachna at that, “But it’s come up, so we’re doing this. For the record, I agree that the Phorus should have stayed collared after we put it on, but I don’t agree that Reese made anything but a bad call in ignoring everyone’s cautions. That’s not something we should talk about without her, but I don’t think we need to.” He gave a short glance to Skye, who felt her chest heat up with anger at the implication that the three of them agreed with her. 

She cooled off when he said, “Attacking a teammate for any reason, especially for ensuring others safety, is a big problem. You can’t do that ever again, Skye. We’re done if you do.”

For a few moments she felt unmoored from reality; this was one of those serious moments that teams had, she realized. It felt odd, in a kind of displaced sort of way, that she could recognize that so calmly. Then, the moment was over and she felt her heartbeat quicken and her anger wanted to take over speaking. Skye took in a titanically deep breath before she then let it out, slowly, like a bellows trying not to stoke a fire. The others watched her, Dachna’s expression guarded and wary of an explosion, whereas Mithel looked somewhere between sad and plainly upset that this had come up. Ronald, though, Skye met his gaze evenly, and noted that he was using his ‘Guardsman’ face, one of the few times she couldn’t get a read on him.

Which was fine, because her answer was easy. “I messed up, bad. That wasn’t something I should have done, I understand that, and going back I shouldn’t have hit her while she was part of our group. I should have waited until we were safely back in town and not on a mission.” She then turned her focus on Mithel, and emotionally said, “I’m also sorry to you, Mithel, you didn’t do anything wrong and I’m just… taking my personal failings out on you. That’s not fair for you.”

There were several seconds as everyone processed that, but Dachna was the one whose expression morphed into incredulity and then laughter, “Samut’s fist, you carry grudges.”

“I… Think I can accept that?” Ronalds passive face mask splintered slightly in contemplation, “To be clear, though, you really, really shouldn’t do that even after they leave the party. That’s still assault.”

Mithel snorted, feeling fractionally better, “Well, I know where your priorities are. I forgive you, Skye, just keep your resting witch face down.”

Skye let herself have a small smile at that weird comment, but then she stood a little straighter, “I… do see where you guys are coming from, but I still don’t regret letting him go. That Phorus is highly sapient, at minimum, and I think not keeping that restraining collar on him is just better for us in the long term.”

“For us, or for him?” Dachna asked, trying to maintain something of a gruffness, but failing with the amusement clear in his tone.

“Yes.” Skye looked to him flatly, “He’s a magnificent bird, and deserves uninhibited freedom. Something like him shouldn’t be collared at all, even if he’d probably break it way quicker than he should. We did the right thing, even if most normal people might not agree.”

Ronald cut in then, cutting off the banter, “And that’s a decision that we as a team are going to make in the future. We’re in this together, and we’ll deal with the repercussions together. Are we good?”

The others looked at each other, with Dachna and Skye exchanging mild glares, but lacking the bite of earlier.

“We can talk more about this in depth later,” Dachna nodded his head towards the spot where the cart had rested briefly, “I see some old blood on the ground there. Skye?”

She turned with a frown on her face, before walking closer. Sure enough, there were dark spots on the ground and grass, though it wasn’t much. It would have been found sooner or later after Skye started checking the area, but Dachna was pretty good at tracking, too. 

“Looks like a lot of blood, yeah,” she held her hand over the blotches on the ground, focusing her essence carefully over her hands and pushing outwards with it. Ripples of essence overlaid the blood, but already the forest was working to claim and use it. Ants lingered in parts, beetles working to clean it out further. It had rained, but not enough to completely clear the area. 

“I’m guessing mostly beast, but this spot definitely has more humanoid.” Skye tilted her head, trying to feel the differences in how things felt to her essence, looking around the trees and places where the grasses and overgrowth were very clearly disturbed. “Fight here, there, and there,” she pointed out different spots, “Some runners went that way and that way.”

“Must have been the escape attempt,” Mithel nodded, walking forward and pulling out an eye dropper and small flask of cloudy grey liquid. She moved to each spot of discoloration and measured out two drops on each near the center of the splotches. Within seconds, a quarter sized area flared with color on the surface before evaporating into a small plume of essence.

“All essence tier one.” Mithel hummed to herself with satisfaction. Dachna moved closer, gesturing off to the side that Skye had pointed towards.

“That's one of the directions?” Dachna asked, and left with Mithel as Skye confirmed. The man could be a great talker and support when he wanted to, so Skye had no issue with him wanting to speak with Mithel alone. 

“This way, then.” She nodded in the other direction and started off, hearing her heavier armored teammate following closely behind. 

After a half minute of silent walking, Skye asked while doing her best not to sound accusing, “You think the paladin was right?” Skye kept her gaze set forward as they moved. Judging by how she heard Ronald’s movement stop before he picked back up again, she’d failed on making it sound non-accusatory.

“Half right, half wrong. As a lot of things are,” he said, to which Skye just looked at him. He followed up with a shrug, “It is what it is. If it were my pops, he’d have probably put an axe in the thing's head the moment it was drugged enough.”

Skye winced at that. Captain Magra was not always known for having a deft and merciful hand. He also was known for having a near sacrilegious disdain for the Kingdoms traditions, even including Red Hawks, Phorus, and Champions. “Still, she was assigned to us for assistance, not to push her ideals down our throats.” Skye retorted.

Ronald frowned, “No, but she does have the wider city to consider. And it’s a fact that she doesn’t need or want our permission or blessing to do what she does. Which is probably why the guildmaster assigned her at all.”

“Meaning?”

“If that Phorus looked at you and seemed friendly, would you do anything to him? You’ve been holding that Phorus on a pedestal. Would you even have been able to move him peaceably while knowing that he’d just be hunted by another group in the Elderwood?” Ronald’s tone became stern. Skye couldn’t help but cringed at the words. 

“Venris’ Teeth, Ronald, you’re really pushing the hard questions today.” She put on a sarcastic front, but knew she failed to hide the discomfort. 

“Could you kill him if you had to? If he really turned out aggressive?” His tone softened as he continued, “Because that’s what the guildmaster’s ultimate backup plan would be. If he can’t be tamed, there’s a good chance some prick poacher is going to try to hunt him for valuable parts and he’d end up having to kill people. Maybe he’ll know the difference, he’s pretty smart, but that’ll only matter if he stays out of the low tier zones. He’s just too damned strong for this area. In another day or two, people will be crawling the Evergreen looking for him, unless the guildmaster keeps the news contained. I'd bet he's already working on that, but how long can he manage to keep that information under lock and key? Red Hawks will earn someone an instant Baron or Baroness status, but a Phorus is easily a Viscount or a Count.”

Skye slowed and stopped entirely this time before drawing a long breath. She knew herself well enough to know what her answer was, and it was true about the noble title they could gain. “No, even if he wasn’t as intelligent as I think he is, I wouldn’t kill him. Even putting that collar on him… I still can’t get behind that decision, though I know that’s just a personal hangup at this point...”

Ronald nodded slowly, as though he’d expected the answer. They made a few more steps into the greenery around them before he then added, “So, you wanna tell the guildmaster off for going behind our backs?”

Skye startled, then barked a laugh, “Oi, you say that now, you wanna be the one to go off on him?”

“Bant’s arse, no!” He snorted, “I was gonna have Dachna do it.”

They laughed at that, feeling more of the intensity of the day drain away. Steadily they picked forward once more, “Do we really have to talk to Reese now?”

Ronald shook his head, “Reese?... Nah, she’s here doing what she’s got to do. Things might be messy now, but she’ll probably prioritize the Oath Sworn from here out. That said, we’re right screwed if we wanted to get her help to chase him after this, I highly doubt she’ll go looking for him after this with us. Next time she goes, it will probably be on a hunt, so hopefully it never happens.” He paused for a few seconds then sighed, “Well, on second thought, it’d be a good idea to at least apologize for punching her in the head. She is still with us, and I’d personally rather a bit more of a hospitable team atmosphere if we can manage it. Or as much as we can, anyways.” 

“Well, that’s fine, I guess. I was in the wrong, so… yeah, I can at least apologize for punching her in the head. I’m serious about how in the future I’ll punch someone after a mission, though.” She cautioned Ronald semi-jokingly, “But, in any case, I think bringing Reese along to see the Phorus again would almost certainly give the wrong impression. If we can, I’d still like to find him again later, hopefully before the forest gets flooded with people also looking for him. Maybe we can apologize at least. From what I felt, he’s smart enough to be well above the base sapience level, at least human cognizance. Might even be more present than Dachna.”

Ronald chortled in amusement at that. Then he took on a pondering air and said, “I think we can figure out something to get him out of this spot, at least. Maybe the northern side of the Eldergreen? It’d be rough, but hopefully we can convince him somehow that it’s a good idea. That would at least let him live away from people most of the time. There are more territorial beasts in the proving grounds, but somehow I think he’d be fine.” He said the last part with a lopsided grin of good spirit.

“I agree. Maybe the mountains, though? He doesn’t fly, anyways, so he won’t have any problems with the nastier things at the peaks.” Skye nodded to herself, “That could be good.”

Ronald nodded, “Now, let’s finish this up. We’ll find the Oath Sworn, get him back safe, and then see if we can find our hopefully-not-pissed-off Phorus friend after.” 

“Is that sarcasm I hear from you?” Skye mock slapped her hands to her mouth, “My word, he’s learning!”

He leveled a mock-glare at her, “Learning every day.”

It didn’t take long for them to finish their investigation, mostly because the trail ran cold. A small spattering of blood, perhaps from a small weapon, marked the end of the path near a tree before a brief scuffle– as evidenced by the greenery crushed down slightly in the location– ended the pursuit in finality. They moved back to where they’d dropped their packs, where the paladin seemed to be waiting. She nodded to them as they approached. A short time later, Dachna and Mithel came back as well, and Skye was glad to see that the pair were much more at ease.

“Our trails ran cold, how about your side?” Skye cut straight to the point.

Dachna replied, “One trail, but it looks like it's followable. Goes for a ways off, so we might be able to find that one. Maybe.”

“Good, then let’s go.” Skye pulled up her backpack as the others did the same. If they were lucky, maybe they’d find the man nearby. Hopefully, he hadn’t managed to find one of the things that were actually dangerous out here. Normally she wouldn’t be worried, but it was clear that whatever method the poachers had used to screw with the Oath’s, wasn't anything remotely stable. If nothing else, she at least wanted one part of this mission to go well. Skye looked to the paladin, seeing her unwavering gaze staring right back at her.

‘Well, here goes nothing… Just don’t punch her again, Skye. Nevermind the fact that she could probably break your neck.’ She joked to herself, imagining punching the woman in the face for stress relief. ‘Huh. That works pretty well, actually. Wow, my teacher was right about something people related. Weird day.’  

 

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