Chapter 214: Bad Solutions

Ram didn’t understand why the sight of things he disliked laying in ash strewn rubble made him so angry. It was likely that he never would, introspection wasn’t his strong suit. As he flew over the land that had become his home and smelt the smoke in the air, he saw red. Something, or someone was responsible for this. 

He saw glimpses of white hair in the crowds below, felt where familiar power clustered. Most were around the tree, which was good, but others were among the ruins and the ash. He wouldn’t know for sure until he counted, but Ram was fairly certain that none of his descendants were missing. 

Ram wasn’t overly protective of his kin. They were strong and hardy, traits they possessed because of him, no doubt. He had previously left them to their own devices as they travelled the outskirts of human territory, and he had outlived several of them. The rage he felt at seeing what they had helped build be reduced to smoldering rubble was like a brand of fire pressing into the back of his head. It was irrational, it didn’t make sense, but he felt it nonetheless. 

Then he spotted the armed group of strangers loitering on the outskirts of his home, and the rage doubled. He called lightning into his hands as he fell towards the worst of the destruction. Five newcomers had approached those picking through the ash for anything that could be scavenged, and one of his own was speaking to them, a hand on his sword’s hilt. 

Ram landed with a deafening crack that made everyone nearby flinch. He pointed his hand at the shocked face of a man in armour, the shape of an owl on his tabard. The human’s eyes widened, then a bolt of lightning slammed into his chest and sent him flying, energy wreathing his body as he blasted through the wall of a half standing home. 

“Ah, shit.” Olav said to the other newcomers. “Well, I did try to warn you.”  

“Get out of my home.” Ram bellowed, calling more energy, power dancing between his horns. 

The four remaining humans turned and sprinted away, one activating a skill that let her cover more distance with every step. She dashed over to where their comrade had landed, scooped him up, then kept running. Ram huffed, placing his hands on his hips as he glared after them.

“Thanks for showing restraint… I think?” Olav said, rubbing the back of his head. 

“You’re welcome. Who were they?”

His descendant sighed. “Not a clue, they were just introducing themselves when you arrived.”

===

“Did you kill him?” Kala asked, her expression incredulous. “Did you even think to talk before you resorted to violence.”

Ram stood with his arms crossed and eyes closed, a gentle breeze rustling through his white hair. 

“Don’t ignore me you old imbecile! This is not the time for you to act like a child!” 

He let out a long, steadying breath. “He might have lived. I didn’t check. Probably not though.”

The sound of Kala’s hand meeting her face sounded over the distant clatter of rubble being sifted through. “Why couldn’t you have come to me first? Or any of the council! We discussed at length all the ways things could go badly if you kept acting based on your own discretion.”

“I thought they were bad, so I acted.” He sniffed. 

“Things are more complicated than ‘see threat hit threat.’ We now have hundreds of people terrified that you’ll attack them for being outsiders. I know that none of this comes naturally to you, I understand, but that’s why you agreed to let us handle situations like this.”

Without opening his eyes, Ram reached into his rags and pulled out a bottle. As he was lifting it to his lips Kala snatched it away. His eyes snapped open and he glared at her. 

“Oh please, the last thing we need is for you to get intoxicated! There’s an entire Ahle-ho guild camping outside of town, and we absolutely do not need your decision making to be even more compromised!”

She popped the lid off the bottle and tipped it upside down, the amber liquid within pouring onto the ground. Kala held the bottle like that for several seconds, but the continuous stream never abated. 

She squinted at the bottle, giving it a shake. “Is this bottomless?”

“Maybe.”

“You’ve had an infinite source of booze this entire time?”

“Perhaps.” 

Kala sighed and put the lid back on, then she threw the bottle at his head. A buffeting wind caught the projectile, and he plucked the treasure out of the air and returned it to his rags. The old woman rubbed the bridge of her nose, then looked down at the town, or what was left of it. 

“We have almost three hundred homeless, most of our food stores are gone, and a potentially hostile force is watching our every move.”

“I could always go kill them all.”

“We don’t know if they’re responsible for what happened last night. Do I think it’s likely? Yes. But we simply don’t know yet, and murdering a bunch of strangers based on a suspicion will destroy this fledgling community. I know that even if you grumble and moan about everything, you also love what we have created.”

Ram grumbled something under his breath, but Kala ignored him.

“And what if they have allies nearby? Or some of their members are your match if they join together? No, from what information I’ve managed to scrounge up about our new guests, they seem to be a minor guild. But if a guild from the coast has gotten this far north, there could very well be more.”

Ram thought back to the strange woman he had discovered sneaking around the day prior. He hadn’t told anyone about that. Well, it was too late now. Besides, she probably hadn’t burnt down part of Far-Reach, she didn’t seem the type.  

“So we cannot kill the outsiders because they might be a threat. And if we don’t kill the outsiders they might be a threat. This is why living with humans is idiotic, things are so much more simple in the wilderness.”

“I never met the one who started my family’s bloodline.” Kala said gently. “They had been hunted down and killed before I was born. Please act with caution, your kin would be devastated to lose you.”

Ram grunted, then frowned in contemplation. He gestured vaguely down at the town. “Fine. What should I do? Because it sounds like there are no good solutions.”

“Since food is a problem, we may need you to hunt game in the north. But at the same time, we also need your presence here to defend us from any attack.” Kala glanced at the domain tree. “I wish that Leif had returned, instead of just that child. We can’t be certain how powerful he has become, but judging by the growth and changes we’ve seen over the past months…”

The old goat shrugged. “He isn’t stronger than me.”

“But so, so much smarter.”

“I resent that. But I’m sure he’ll be back.”

“We can only hope.”

===

It was a scramble to build enough shelter for everyone before night arrived. The advent of rain that Ram had to constantly combat to keep off their backs made the ordeal even more stressful. Makeshift homes were built out of what lumber could be scavenged, and tents made of blankets and rope were buffeted against the wind. 

The entire time the Wings of Night guild watched from a safe distance, their numbers growing as more members arrived with each passing hour. A message was attached to an arrow and shot into a field, and its contents had Kala and the other members of the council scrambling. 

Ram didn’t know what the letter had said, and he didn’t care. He had spent some time using his considerable strength to help with construction, but he had quickly grown tired of the looks of fear and whispered remarks, so he had left. He could still feel the pressure of the invisible storm that surrounded Far-Reach, its presence in his mind a constant source of agitation.

He stood above the settlement on a platform of cloud stuff, howling winds buffeting him from all sides and whipping up his rags. The setting sun was hidden by the poor weather, and the temperature plummeted. Still he stood vigil, a barely visible speck in the night sky, his gaze fixed on the human guild. 

Sometime past midnight the weather cleared, the air stilling for the first time in hours. The large ball of light in the sky that people called Season drifted lazily overhead, the last of the thing’s strange red cracks almost entirely hidden now that turbulence was behind them. 

Alone with his thoughts, Ram’s mind drifted. Would it be better for everyone if he took his family and left this place? Giving up the domain tree would be a massive blow, especially for himself, but he didn’t see a way to hold the land they had claimed without violence becoming necessary. 

Perhaps things would have been different if he had been born human, maybe his perspective would be such that he could see the world in a way where everything wasn’t sheer cliffs and perilous ravines. 

Ram instinctively reached for the bottle he kept tucked away, and had lifted it halfway to his mouth before he paused. He cursed and put it away, hating how Kala’s advice had stuck to his conscience like a leech. What did she know anyway? He was older than her by several decades at least. Unfortunately, even he knew the difference between years lived and life experienced. 

The goat turned man spat off the side of the cloud and slumped, sitting cross legged. He placed his fist under his chin and stared off into the distance, trying to shake away the intrusive thoughts with sheer stubbornness. His eyes picked up something far away, but a dark cloud moved between him and the thing he had spotted. Ram waited, minutes passing before he could finally see what it was. 

Light. Or rather, a trail of tiny twinkling lights. The type people carried while travelling. And there were thousands of them. It was as if an entire city had uprooted itself and started marching north. Ram reached into his rags and retrieved the bottle, then he chugged it for thirty seconds straight.