Chapter 10: I may be crazy but at least you're warm.

King Of The Forest

Chapter 10: I may be crazy but at least you're warm.

Somewhere in the woods…

"Sir, The blood scent is gone." Reports Vivi.

'Hmm. She must have closed her wounds as expected of the queen.' Thinks the captain.

"What about the human?" He asks.

"The tracks have been spotted at least fifty metres away but we are now positive the human was headed for the target."

"Do you know anything else about the human?" Interjects Marrda.

"..."

"Answer him." Says the captain softly.

"Yes sir. The human is most likely a male knight or a dark mage but from the tracks he leaves it seems he's not trained. He most likely slept on the trees and h"–

"How do you know he could be a dark mage?"

"...."

"Let her finish Marrda." Says the Captain as he eyed him.

…"A fire mage would melt the snow wherever he stepped as he warms himself. A water mage would transfigure the snow and there would be signs of him using the snow to his advantage. An earth mage would leave the earth slightly elevated even if careful to put it back, we would notice it." Vivi explains with irritation in her tone.

"How would knights move in this area?" Asks a centaur next to Marrda on his right.

"Knight techniques all have one common thing and that is a pattern of movement that subconsciously bleeds into their mannerisms, including the way they walk." Replied Vivi, staring daggers at Marrda.

"The tracks don't have any signs of techniques but that could mean he's using an unorthodox technique. All that's left aside from that is him being a dark mage since they all have different ways of doing things."

"What about light and ai" Marrda slaps his subordinate before he could ask another dumb question.

"I think you're satisfied now Marrda. We'll be using the human's tracks from now on. They shouldn't be far, stay vigilant." Says the Captain.

Hooves dig into the snow as the group of centaurs moves in the direction of the river. "But sir I still don't understand why the human isn't a light or air mage." Asked the young centaur walking next to Marrda.

"You idiot. Do you think members of the dawn church would come for a faefolk. Even rogue light mages don't care about us," Marrda angrily whispers,

"And you really think air mages would waste time walking on the ground, you're an air attribute for fucksake."

The young centaur shrinks back in the midst of the quiet lesson. He looks around hoping other members didn't catch the leader yelling at him during his turn shadowing and unfortunately, his squad mates are obviously holding in massive laughs.

He looks down dejectedly but inwardly thinking about what Vanguard leader Marrda said. 'I haven't heard about dark mages being really strong and even most master knights couldn't handle our whole company...but this human is a friend of the traitor queen so he has to be strong.' The centaur estimates the strength of their possible adversary while the whole centaur group led by Vivi and the captain march on.

****

'Damn. Why is it so cold?... Huh?' Opening my eye, I look around, finding myself in the dark. 'I fell asleep huh. Still, why is it so damn cold at night? I..' I stretch my arm and chest while yawning before shrinking back from the cold.

I conjure the dark magic vest and gauntlet but it takes a while to shrug off the accumulated cold.

'She hasn't woken up yet huh.' I look up at the two moons that make the night brighter. 'I don't know if I can wait for her to wake up. I need to find people that can actually help. Maybe she has something.'

I walk up to the sleeping woman and there's an interesting difference in her looks. 'I guess that kinda makes sense.' Her face and hands were hairier, making her look like a brown peach with white fuzz. 'It must be a thing werewolves do when they're cold. Wish I had that.'

Looking past the difference in looks I start carefully frisking her. Finding a chrome valuable looking ring with a blue crystal on it on her left index finger. "Interesting."

Seeing that she's unresponsive as I take the ring, I start to search a little rougher and with more vigour.

….a while later

A weird looking pocket watch, a fancy dagger, a white badge with a wolf head and I think lightning bolts around it and the expensive ring are placed on the snow in front of me.

'The badge is probably a family emblem. I don't know if it'll help or bring trouble. I'll just leave it.' Looking at the rest of the objects, 'I think I can sell the rest for money when it comes to it.'

This was all the woman had on her. I had now plan to help her or wait for her to wake up so I did what I thought was in my best interest. Steal from her. She looks like she would be able to get more if she wanted anyway.

I grab the watch and dagger and throw them in my sack and put the ring in my pocket. Standing, I take a look at the woman before me. "I'm sorry but I think I may need these more than you. No hard feelings."

Saying that, I turn and leave. Heading South like I did before. As I'm walking a quick thought appears–'What if she suddenly wakes up and chases after me...'

Having no way of dealing with that problem, I simply decide to pick up the pace.

Ploughing through the snow like I'm late to work, my brain points out a few other problems. I look back at the snow I just stepped on and see that I'm leaving tracks for her to follow so she will be able to find me eventually and I very much can't do anything about that. Secondly and also most importantly, she's a werewolf. She could hunt me down through my smell or the smell of her things on me.

I stop in my tracks right there. 'I'm an idiot.' Looking back at the werewolf woman close to a hundred metres away from me, I sigh dejectedly but almost immediately, a plan forms in my head.

****

"Ughh..mmff." I grunt as my legs dig into the snow, almost sticking to the ground from the extra weight. "You're way heavier than I thought." I say, referring to the werewolf woman who is now on my back and not only is she heavy, she is much taller than I thought. At least much taller than me.

Piggybacking her is no easy feat.

As I take a step she slips off to my right side. With no hand to stop her or do anything she falls on the snow. "Come on, really, again." I sigh in exasperation. I kneel down to get her back on my back just like I did when I went back for her the first time and it's a really complex procedure.

"Hup." Getting her on, I stand slowly before continuing South. "At least I don't have to share the magic." I comment. "I have to come up with a name for this…spell."

The reason I've decided to carry her is to blackmail her. Seeing as I won't be able to escape if she wakes, I might as well make the situation advantageous and what better way to do that than to make her owe me for saving her life from imaginary perpetrators. Granted I didn't save her life, I really didn't want to wait for her to wake up and miss out on my chance to find civilization. 'I don't know if she'll believe a handicapped boy with one eye saved her from attackers. Maybe I should say animals, but I have no idea what animals could poss..' — I feel her stomach growl unusually on my back just as it has been doing for a while now, — 'that still freaks me out. I thought she was hungry but no, it's definitely something else….'

The growls stopped after a while and silence came back to me. 'Maybe she's injured internally and it's healing inside… That might be why she's also unconscious.' Feeling that she's about to slip again I stop and try to catch her but the familiar burning itch of phantom pain responds to me. "Hoooo no." I position my body in a way that's able to stop her from falling.

Adjusting her with my left hand I go back to walking. "I need my hand back…can werewolves regrow arms?" I ask myself, lingering on the question before a biting cold wind hits me making me realise I lost focus of my magic. "Shit."

'I need to practise this more….The dark cloak? Yeah. That sounds good for this spell.' I conjure my now named spell, the black jelly vest, boots and gauntlet. 'When I have enough mana I should be able to cover myself whole like a cloak so the name fits. I wonder what magic werewolves have.'

I continue walking, thinking and walking…

****

Under the same night sky, hooves plough through snow at a steady but quick pace.

"Leader Rau, why aren't we going faster? We could easily catch up to the que…the fugitive queen faster." Asks a brown female centaur walking in step with scout division leader Vivi.

Vivi responds, "We're saving our energy Taka. We could easily catch up if we went at full speed but what happens after we get there? Queen Karra is a mature werewolf and is almost a Maître mage with the wind attribute. She can easily outrun us at our top speed, let alone when we're tired… al" —

"Won't she escape," Taka interrupts, "I mean like you said, she's…." The female centaur stops, half paralysed by the look Vivi gives her.

"I was about to say, the mission report stated that the queen is unaware of the area she's in and has no knowledge about it. The only way out of the Talos region is by Skyswimmer or Waypoint. The only Waypoint is in Arkshu but that's probably destroyed by the grink attack and there's only one Skyswimmer in the Talos region right now, ours. The river Tiber she's headed for connects to the sea surrounding this island so I can assure you, she won't escape." Vivi says in an explaining tone.

"I just wanna go home, this place is too cold for me. I might get a fever." Taka replies, looking forward at the tracks left by the human.

"Wait… if we have the only way out of here, how did the human get here himself? How did the que…fugitive get here?" She asks.

"He most likely used the waypoint in Arkshu, the queen…I don't know. It wasn't in the mission brief." Vivi says looking at the captain following behind the scout division along with the rest.

****

"Achoo"..... "I think I might be sick." I comment after sneezing loudly in the late dark night. 'I have been feeling a little more tired these past two days…nights. I guess it wasn't just the extra weight.'

The werewolf lady has not shown any signs of waking up these two days. Also, my food is done. The stomach growling from the woman has decreased in frequency so I can only assume that she's almost done healing.

"You better be able to help after all I've done." I say to my unconscious companion.

"...." a silent breath responds to me from my blindside.

"Or at least have friends that can help….and have food." I continue, while trudging through the snow.

A long while later, the peaking sun greets me. I stop next to a tree. Without the sound of me walking in the snow I can finally hear a very soft buzzing. 'What is that.' Setting down the woman and my sack next to the tree, I look around trying to identify the source and there's nothing in the near vicinity that could make the sound.

'Am I going crazy….' The sound didn't bother me as much so I just ignored it but a thought came to mind. 'Another monster?!'

Now vigilant I pull out the fancy dagger I deemed to be of higher quality than my kitchen knives from the sack.

Looking around, waiting for something to happen, I speak to my unconscious companion, "I could really use your help right now."

The soft buzzing continues for a long while before I calm down. 'Maybe I am going crazy.' I sigh before slowly putting the dagger back and going to sit next to the woman.

"At least you're warm. That's one thing you've done for me." I yawn as I get closer to the woman. Still looking around, a bit suspicious.