Chp.11: An endless source of meat

Isaac did as he was told and contacted all the people Haku told him to call, and sent them to where the dragon was waiting for them. The first to arrive were obviously his siblings, who however moved slowly to escort Zamor, Gord and the other beastmen leaders out of the camp and guide them, since otherwise they would have risked getting lost in the desert, also because it was already night; moreover, even if Brenno and other guards were with them, it was still better not to leave them alone in case of danger. When they saw the huge, nearly hundred-meter-long carcass lying on the ground, they couldn't help but drop their mouths in surprise. "And what would that be?" Keita asked.

"I called it a sand worm. And anyway I cut off a piece and let it escape, it was longer before" Haku replied. "I think that's what the sand sharks eat"

"Wow! Did you kill it all by yourself?" Rhaegal exclaimed in admiration.

Haku let out a snort. "I know it looks big and fat, but it was actually half a notch. Once you figured out the weak spot, killing it was super easy. It didn't even have any attacks worthy of the name. It's no surprise that sand sharks see it as prey despite is much bigger than them"

Indeed the dragons, after a first glance, noticed that the worm had no protection. Other than the size there was practically nothing special about it. He didn't even seem able to move fast. Defeating him couldn't have been too difficult. "Well, you may not have had much of a challenge, brother, but at least we'll eat something new" Darbi commented, then pointed to the nearby hole. "What is that?"

"A shortcut to the place where this worm finds food to survive" Haku answered. Now that the tunnel had been created and made safe, all they had to do was follow it to reach the subsoil where the water was and presumably also what that worm fed on. If it hadn't been for that, he wouldn't have let go of the other piece of the worm.

Zamor meanwhile, along with the other beastmen chiefs, was observing without words the body of the dead giant worm. He never would have thought that such a large beast could exist, much less that someone was able to kill it. He swallowed at the thought of one of those sand worms approaching their group and trying to attack them. Haku said it wasn't much of a challenge, but Zamor had already seen the dragon perform feats that everyone assumed were impossible, so he doubted that a 'no great challenge' for Haku would be a 'no great challenge' for him and his subordinates as well. "Was it carnivorous?" he asked the dragon.

Haku shook his head. "No, I don't think so. He didn't have any characteristics suitable for hunting: he wasn't fast, he wasn't agile, he didn't have precise weapons. He only attacked me because I chased him, whereas before he was constantly trying to escape. I think that somehow sense the movements, and he mistook me for a sand shark..."

"Correct deduction, brother" Darbi said as he tore off a piece of meat and chewed it. "This skin is full of nerves. It probably has such a perfect sense of touch that it picks up the vibrations under the sand"

"Are you sure it's not a predator?" Gord asked doubtfully. "I mean, with such capabilities it could spot the prey immediately and..."

"It wouldn't make sense to have the whole body covered in nerves in that case" Haku interrupted him. "Predators have sensory organs concentrated in specific points, because in this way it is easy to understand where the signal comes from and identify the prey. Prey, on the other hand, have them scattered throughout the body on purpose to be able to perceive even the slightest signal of danger and flee immediately Think, for example, of the eyes: herbivorous animals have placed them on the sides of the head to see in multiple directions, while carnivores have placed them frontally to be able to chase their prey more easily. If this worm were a predator, it would have its nerves focused on head, or in some other point of the body, instead he has scattered them everywhere"

That made Zamor breathe a sigh of relief, and the other beastmen leaders as well. "So it's a herbivore?"

"I think so. In any case it poses no danger to us, I can assure you" Haku said, imagining what was going on in the lizardman's head. "This worm ran off as soon as it heard me coming. I don't think one of these beasts will approach our marching group, we will be like a huge herd of ferocious predators to them. In fact, they will probably get away as quickly as possible. And even if one of them decides to attack, I can assure you that he will die almost immediately. I told you, he has very little defense and has no way to attack efficiently"

Zamor was returning to think more lucidly. In fact, even he was beginning to notice many weaknesses in the carcass that he and his men could exploit to kill the sand worm. Now that he knew there was no immediate danger, he was returning to thinking about possible opportunities. "So, if it's a herbivore... then it must be feeding somewhere. If we go down that hole..."

"…it can take us straight to its food source. That's right" Haku preceded him. "But first I want to be sure of what he eats. Darbi, do you want to help?"

His brother didn't let him repeat himself and sank his head into the creature's body, starting to devour it quickly by creating a passage. The beastmen let out a disgusted cry at that scene. "Damn, how can you eat that stuff? Ok I've seen you eat even worse, but…" Gord murmured.

"It's not that bad" Darbi replied. "It actually tastes like chicken"

Gord remained silent, refraining from comment. He just turned away to avoid seeing that scene.

Darbi waded into the worm until his entire neck was inside its body, then he re-emerged carrying some things covered in stomach fluids in his mouth. "These sure aren't meat. They were in the digestive tract"

Haku took one of those. They were strange cylindrical shaped objects, with a small rounded point at the top. Most were about half a meter long, but some were as long as two meters. And they were very dark in color, with the stem colored black or blue and the tip colored red or brown. They certainly weren't plants, but they looked rather… "Fungi?"

It actually made sense. Plants could not grow without sunlight; therefore it was impossible that underground, even if there was water, algae or some other type of plant could grow that could form the basis for the food chain. But in contrast, fungi thrived in dark, damp environments, such as underground caverns. Considering that Haku already knew that there was a large amount of water underground, then it was probable that it had formed even large caves, which could have housed thousands if not millions of those strange mushrooms. Of course, it was unlikely that a cave would be large enough to sustain a sand worm more than a hundred meters long in the long term… but after all, there had to be a reason such creatures were nomads. Sand worms swam in the sand just like sand sharks, and their jaws, while not very lethal, were sufficient to split the underlying rock; as a result, they probably moved continuously throughout the desert looking for large caves full of mushrooms, fed on every available resource and then left again, allowing the spores of those mushrooms time to take root again and repopulate the cave. Indeed, perhaps it was the sand worms that spread these spores, destroying the old ecosystem and cleaning it up to allow the new one to germinate; after all, a cave was a limited space and if the old mushrooms didn't disappear the new ones wouldn't have a chance to grow, and eventually they would all die. Finally, the sand worms were then preyed upon by sand sharks, which moved into the desert in search of them and had adapted to kill those large creatures that could provide them with enough food for weeks.

Haku smiled, satisfied that he finally understood how the Yuthia Desert food chain worked. Probably the other species, such as scorpions and insects, were also part of it, perhaps with the role of scavengers... or perhaps they had an even more complex role, which he still couldn't see at the moment. Haku couldn't help but feel admiration: it was amazing how life was able to not only survive, but also thrive in such a difficult and hostile environment.

He quickly shared his speculations with others. When he was done, all of them were quite in awe. "Very amazing..." Zamor murmured. "Haku, do you think these stramge mushrooms are edible?"

"I have no idea. We have to find some undigested to determine" the dragon answered.

"Well, gastric juices didn't look any different from those of the newcomers. So logically you should be able to digest them too" Darbi added.

Gord raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, but how do you know... no, don't answer! I don't want to know!" he exclaimed, realizing that some questions were better left unanswered.

Darbi snorted. "How exaggerated. Anyway take this" he said handing him a piece of very cooked meat. "I cooked it while Haku was talking using a fire rune. Taste it and tell me if it doesn't taste like chicken!"

Gord's eyes widened. He had indeed noticed that Darbi was doing something with fire, but he hadn't realized his intentions. "No way! I don't care if you cooked it, I won't eat the flesh of a giant worm!"

Darbi didn't try to insist. He just said: "Brenno, block him"

"What!?" Gord didn't even have time to finish pronouncing those words that the two powerful arms of the minotaur grabbed him by the shoulders keeping him blocked. "Traitor! Let me go! I swear I'll kill your family!"

"You know I want to die a bachelor. I don't think you'll have the chance" Brenno answered him, then he yelled: "Darbi, now!"

The dragon didn't have to repeat it and stuffed the piece of meat into the lizardman's mouth. Gord tried to spit it out, but then stopped: although the meat was not seasoned with salt or spices and was not cooked well (since Darbi was not exactly a good cook, being used to eating only raw meat), it had a taste really good. It was actually similar to chicken, but at the same time it seemed to have a different fragrance. In any case, it was definitely tasty. Reluctantly, Gord chewed and swallowed a piece, then took another bite. After the first three bites he found himself eating it heartily, even though he knew very well what that meat belonged to.

"See? It wasn't that bad after all, was it? After all, this is still an animal, it doesn't matter what shape it has" Darbi said. "Come on, people, come and taste! Trust me, you'll love it!"

Like Gord, the other beastmen were also a bit reluctant, but this time there was no need for a minotaur to force them to eat: one after the other they tasted the flesh of the sand worm and had to admit that it was really good. If thay also kept in mind that Darbi's cooking wasn't exactly perfect, who knows how good that meat would have been if it had been cooked by a good cook!

Zamor turned to Haku: "This meat is definitely very good, but the most important thing is that it's easy to find. Since these worms survive even if cut in half, if we raised even just one we could obtain a practically infinite source of meat. We would just need to take one piece when we need it and heal the wound of the sand worm, and then wait for it to grow back". The lizardman's eyes glittered: such a find was literally a godsend from his point of view. It meant not having to fear famine in any way, even if the animals and plants they had brought with them failed to adapt to the environment. Of course, it was preferable that they succeed so as to have many varieties of food, but even if they failed it wouldn't impact the beastmen too badly. "All we have to do is figure out how to grow these strange mushrooms. And for that..."

"...we have to go down there" Haku anticipated him pointing the hole in the sand with his eyes. "We need a team to go down and check out what the environment is like there. And I think I have the perfect adventurers for the job..."