Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The news that there were at least eight more of the massive predators wandering the hills was not welcome amongst the hunters. They’d seen just how their most powerful fighters had struggled with the beasts, and knew that they still had quite a bit to do in order to reclaim their village.

A quick discussion between Koda, Cyrus, Sienna, and Arthene had the elder hunter gathering his forces together and quickly securing the village where they could before they started ferrying necessary items away to the refugee camp.

Once that was done, Sienna and Arthene separated from the two men to stand watch over the pyres with Calandra and Samira.

Since the elderly and young had been forced to flee the village with few supplies or tools, those would be prioritized. Bundles were quickly made of blankets, clothing, basic tools, and firewood. Cyrus also gave the order to break into the storehouses and remove as much of their durable food as possible before the trolls got their grubby mitts on it.

“It’s unfortunate, but I fully expect the village to change hands a few times during this skirmish,” Cyrus sighed as he returned from giving his orders and most of his hunters set to work.

Samira hadn’t budged from her spot between Arthene and Calandra, though. The caracal beastfolk was hip-deep in talking with the two, and she outright ignored Cyrus’ orders to go with the other hunters. This earned her a glare from her ostensible superior, but apparently such antics were common and the glares didn't phase her.

“That is possible, and it is always best to plan for the worst-case scenario,” Koda agreed, carefully tugging his new and intact shirt down over his bandages. “Ideally, I’d like to avoid that happening. Any extra damage to your home will make the winter harder for you.”

Cyrus shook his head with a half-frown, half-smile on his lips. The cougar beastfolk clapped Koda gently on his shoulder to not aggravate his wounds.

“You are a good man, Aegisclaw. Even if you were not a champion to the Pack Lady, I feel you would do your best to help us.”

“Of course,” Koda replied with a shrug. “The world is hard and cold enough that we need to stick together. Looking out for yourself is all well and good until you get hurt or sick, and then you have to rely on others.” He grimaced as another thought crossed his mind.

Cyrus wasn’t a hunter and a leader for no reason, and he made a questioning noise when he saw the look of concern cross the powerful young man’s face.

“What bothers you, Aegisclaw? I know that look, it’s something I’m used to seeing on the elder’s face when he has far too much on his plate.”

“Just thinking about Silverstone,” Koda admitted with a sigh. “There is so much that needs to get done in the wake of the Crooked attack. The village is recovering from their raid and homes are being mended, but there is more to do. I have a home to settle into and a village to protect. We even have resources that can be traded for supplies, but that requires Amberpost to get back on its feet as well. But I have to be careful of where I go and what I do.”

The beastfolk hunter nodded in understanding, the creases in his weathered face deepening into a frown of empathy.

“That is very accurate. Your position is tentative, and you still thrive with the protections of obscurity. Thank you again for shedding your shroud to help us, by the way.”

“It’s fine,” Koda said dismissively, waving the thanks off with one hand. “It needed to be done, so it’s getting done. I’m just looking at your home and it is reminding me of everything I need to do to protect mine. We will need tools, walls, and hands to work them both. Defenses, trading partners, and time to thrive. Thera gave me a family and I have to safeguard them now so that family can grow.”

Cyrus' face shifted into a proud smile as he watched the champion ramble about responsibilities and duties despite his young age. He couldn’t help the urge to clap Koda on the shoulder once more and reassure him further.

“Well, if you and the Den Mother can help us reclaim our village, then you’ll have secured an ally in the Silent Plains tribe. We may not have much, but we will happily travel to your valley to trade. And we can spread word that the people of your home are honorable and can be trusted. Having a source of metal tools that doesn’t require us to travel to Amberpost would be a boon.”

At that statement, Koda looked up to meet Cyrus’ eyes with a thoughtful expression that was soon followed by a slow nod.

“I… yes. Spreading word is something I hadn’t even considered, to be honest. Ever since I got started as a champion, I’ve been moving at a run the whole time, except for a few days in between. I just launched myself into this because it felt like it needed to be done.”

“You need to take time to recover more, Champion,” Cyrus warned him, the hunter’s expression going stern. “You carry a great weight on your shoulders. While I cannot refuse your offer for help—and I know saying this makes for the height of hypocrisy—you will run yourself ragged if you do not slow to breathe for more than a day.”

“It’s nothing I haven’t done before at my last job,” Koda said offhandedly, trying to brush off the worries. It was true; he’d been moving at a sprint ever since he’d entered the workforce. Sure, he was worn to the bone by that, but he’d had his goal to chase. Now that he held that goal in the palm of his hand, Koda would die to protect it.

“Rest when you can, slow to enjoy what you have earned,” Cyrus insisted firmly, the older man’s back straightening as he laid some hard-won wisdom on Koda. “If you do not take the time to savor the flowers of spring, they will fade before you realize it. Do it for your mates if for nothing else, because I guarantee they would love to simply spend time with you. I can see it in how they look at you.”

That made Koda flinch.

Yeah, you might be able to keep up this momentum because of the goddess’ blessing, but what about Sienna and Calandra? he chastised himself internally. My girls are strong, but only Arthene carries immortal strength. I need to remember that.

Seeing his words had struck home, Cyrus nodded and patted Koda gently on the shoulder once more before stepping back.

“So, what are your thoughts now, Aegisclaw?” Cyrus asked, turning to scan the horizon as the afternoon light doused everything in a golden glow.

Koda tucked away his self-recriminations for later, promising to ensure he had the chance to love his wives and make sure they knew how much they meant to him. Then he shifted to scan the same horizon with the hunter.

“We need more information,” Koda said after a minute of thought. “I know what it is to fight a troll, and we have confirmed that the legends of the troll-slayer blessing are true. You found tracks for at least eight more trolls, but we don’t know their true numbers.”

“Further scouting then?” Cyrus asked.

“Yes. We know a group has come through here and devoured your herds, and that they will likely come back. I want to find where they have holed up. We don’t know if they are simply in the trees sleeping off their meal, or if they have retreated further into the mountains.”

“That is fair. I need to get these supplies back to my people, but I can spare a hunter to track for you. I wish your Calandra could come with us to speed our steps, but my people will endure.” Cyrus glanced at his hunters, who were working to stack bundles of supplies together, clearly thinking of who to call over.

“Why not Samira?” Koda suggested as he watched the caracal woman bounce while she talked animatedly, something in her words drawing a barking laugh from Calandra as the dwarven woman threw her head back in amusement. “I know you probably do not want to reward bad behavior since she’s ignoring you, but she is the most knowledgeable about trolls.”

“Samira has always been a free spirit,” Cyrus said with a sigh as he looked back at the animated discussion. “And I have a feeling that she would ignore the order even if I demanded she return with us. She is enamored with being in the presence of not only the Den Mother, but her family and a champion. As a keeper of knowledge, it is right that she should be an observer.”

“Keeper of knowledge?” Koda asked curiously.

“Her stories,” Cyrus explained. “She is not the only keeper, but is easily the most enthusiastic of them. While each family has its own histories, the keepers work to ensure that knowledge is never lost to misfortune. If—no, when we reclaim our village, I’m sure that Samira will be eager to share that knowledge with the other keepers so that it joins the records of our people.”

Koda didn’t comment on the brief stumble in Cyrus’ words. He’d fought a troll and knew the challenge that still waited for them himself, so Koda could understand that worry.

“Daylight is burning. Get the supplies back to your people, and we will strike out to get what information we can and make plans. I’ll meet you back here in… five days?” Koda said after some thought. “That should give you time to make it to the camp and return with a day to rest and prepare there. That will give us time to scout the trolls and make a plan.”

“Five days, in the afternoon,” Cyrus responded with a sharp nod, his weathered face going serious once more. “If I return before then, I will have one of my hunters enter the village and hang a white cloth from that balcony.”

The hunter turned and pointed to one of the few buildings with a second story that stood towards the center of the village. Koda took careful note of it and the surrounding buildings as well, to fix it in his memory.

“And if I get back early, I’ll hang a black one there. Whoever comes second will find the other outside of the village. Fair?”

“Fair,” Cyrus gave a sharp nod and offered his forearm to Koda. The champion gripped the older man’s forearm with his own, and they shook. “Good hunting, Aegisclaw.”

“Safe travels, Cyrus.”

<><><>

Samira was ecstatic when Koda conveyed the orders that she would travel with the champion and his group to help track the trolls. She had made quick friends with the rest of Koda’s group, alternating between digging for more information on their adventures from Netta, and teasing Hans with Hannah.

The trail of the trolls was easy enough to find, given their massive feet had churned up the earth traveling right through one of the fields in a line that led from the cliffs overlooking the lake straight to the wrecked remains of the village’s largest paddock.

Calandra started up her spell once more, the caress of the wind at their backs buoying their steps and allowing the group to move without hesitation, despite the lingering injuries Koda and Arthene still bore.

Todd, Sienna, Hannah, and Samira lead the group. They spread out in a line to cover the entire track left by the trolls, in case one of the misshapen giants peeled off to go somewhere else rather than move with the group. Two of them had already separated or been left behind by the trolls.

The rest of their group moved behind the line of hunters, trotting along and exchanging ideas as they moved.

“I’m spoiled after all that our Sienna has done against the Crooked,” Hans was saying as they rounded the lake and followed the track into the foothills as rock became more common than the moist earth. “Those pit traps she used on the mounted Crooked were so useful, but we can’t just drop one of these buggers into a pit. It’s too damned tall to be efficient.”

“And they are strong enough they could just climb out,” Arthene reminded him from the other side of Koda. “Trolls are best dealt with via catastrophic damage. If you were to drop one into a pit, you’d either need someone to go into said pit to fight it, or fill the pit with something flammable and burn it alive. They are canny enough to break or steal any pole-weapons you try to use against them, and their hide is strong enough to resist arrows from all but the most powerful of bows.”

“What about a bear pit? Sorry if that is insensitive,” Calandra suggested before immediately darting a concerned look to Arthene, who just laughed.

“No, it is fine, dear Cal. I consider it a mark of pride that people fear my kin enough that they have to use such tactics to eliminate them. They might help to wound a troll, but as Koda and I learned, trolls take a beating to kill. Simple spikes in the foot wouldn’t kill a troll any more than your stepping on a nail would kill you.”

“What about spiked barricades?” Hans suggested after a bit of thinking. “If polearms won’t work because they can be broken, we could fashion barricades of sharpened logs. Even if they don’t just obligingly run into them, it can help funnel them into one spot.”

“Maybe,” Koda agreed thoughtfully. “We’d need to use long logs and bury them in the earth as well, but then it’d be as simple as the troll just breaking the logs. You saw them ripping roof trusses down to use as clubs.”

“The tyranny of raw power,” Netta sighed from the other side of their group. “While the rest of us have to be wary of such things, creatures like the trolls or champions can just plow through them.”

“I can’t just—” Koda started to protest but Arthene cut him off with a held up hand and a smirk.

“Yes, you can, my mate,” she asserted firmly. “You could before with your speed, but now that you have absorbed that fragment of divinity from your kill? You definitely could plow through a barricade like that. My mate is powerful,” Arthene rumbled the last part throatily, her yellow eyes flaring with arousal as she stared at him hungrily.

“Down girl,” Calandra laughed, elbowing Arthene in the thigh and making the bear-spirit stumble. “You’ll get a chance tonight, so keep your skirt on until then. Work before play and all that.”

Arthene, the Den Mother, an ancient spirit incarnate into flesh, pouted at the smaller woman like a little girl denied candy, which earned her a round of laughter from the others.

More ideas were shared back and forth as their group wound higher into the mountains. Calandra’s spell kept them from exhausting themselves, but everyone was flagging from having to run uphill for the last several hours as night’s cloak settled in around them.

Koda could still make out the faint shape of the village behind them when the troll’s track sharply veered off from the steady upwards march it had been following and his hunters came to a stop.

Trotting up to meet the four where they studied an obvious branch on the trail, Koda listened in.

“This is the older track,” Samira said confidently, pointing to the one that led higher into the mountains. “The tracks are softer around the edges, showing the age, and this would lead back to their original hunting grounds.”

“But did they all break off, or did some go back?” argued Todd, the fox beastfolk squatting in the dim light of the evening to study the trail. “When trails cross like this, it's easy to miss something. Especially in this light.”

“They didn’t,” Samira said confidently. “I should have guessed that they’d have sniffed out this cave. It’s not the only place for them to hole up, but it is one of the more likely ones. I’d just hoped they’d gone further into the hills.”

“What is along this track?” Koda interrupted, stepping up behind Sienna.

The red-wolf beastfolk turned her head to smile up at him, her tail whipping back and forth happily at the sight of her mate. Sienna took a trio of steps backwards until she was pressed to his chest and Koda slung an arm around her waist to hold her tight to his side, trapping her fluffy tail against his thigh, where it beat a happy tune.

“There's a large cave that the elders use for ceremonies. Legends speak of it being home to one of the great hunting cats that prowled this land in the time before the other gods chased Oluk out of his world,” Samira said quickly, bounding over to stand on Koda’s other side, her tufty-tipped ears flicking rapidly. “I’ve seen the inside and believe the stories. There are great rents in the stone of the walls where the cat would sharpen his claws before he hunted. No one knows where the primordial hunter went; only the marks in the stone remain.”

“I wonder if the scent of your people in the cave brought the trolls there…” Hannah muttered thoughtfully, her own pointed ears flicking as she rubbed at her chin. “You said it was used for a ceremony?”

“Yes, but only twice a year, at the beginning and end of winter. The elders leave offerings to appease the spirits of the mountains, so they do not descend to prey upon our village during the winter, and again in spring, as thanks for their mercy.” Samira’s words were again punctuated by her bouncing from side to side on her feet, the excitement obviously too much for her to contain.

“Then we should scout that cave. Todd, do you see anything that indicates they split up?” Koda asserted before turning his attention to the fox beastfolk.

“Nothing I can make out in this light,” Todd sighed, standing upright and dusting off his pants. “It’s getting dark enough that I’d be worried about stumbling on a sleeping troll soon, if they didn’t stink so much.”

Koda couldn’t argue with that fact. The sun was already nearly gone, and the moon had yet to rise, so the next few hours would be very dark.

Ideal for sneaking up on an enemy camp, Koda thought with a small smile before he turned to check on his group.

His team all stood at ease and ready to keep moving, but Koda had been with these people long enough to know that they were growing tired, and might make mistakes soon. With Calandra’s magic to strengthen their stride, they’d made good time and covered plenty of distance.

Glancing back out towards the plains, Koda studied the shadowed hills. The shape of the village was obvious by the organized rows of the fields from this high up, as they’d been traveling along a ridgeline. It also meant that the trolls would be visible against the sky as long as he had someone watching for them when they returned to secure the village.

Information, Koda reminded himself. Need more of it.

“Okay, we scout the cave and then retreat to make our own camp for the night. I don’t want to camp near the trolls if possible, so we need to get the information we can quickly and get out of there.”