Chapter 034: I Can’t Afford to Keep You

Contemplating their next move, the leader of the elephant riders rallied his few remaining men for another charge. With a determined shout, he spurred his beast forward.

Roach, poised with his bow, aimed at the charging leader. At a critical distance of 70 meters, he let an arrow fly, striking the rider directly in the right eye. With a scream, the leader tumbled from his mount, which inadvertently trampled him in its confusion, gruesomely ending his life.

The leaderless war elephant paused, uncertain of what to do next. The enemy troops, momentarily shocked by the swift demise of their leader, hesitated but continued their charge nonetheless.

"Counterattack, charge and throw your spears!" Roach commanded.

The four allies widened the gap and charged towards the enemy, halting after 10 meters to hurl their spears. At this close range of just over 40 meters, their preemptive strike proved deadly, immediately felling three more foes. Now only three enemies remained, their morale shattered.

Roach, sensing victory, drew another arrow and advanced. The sight of him charging frightened the remaining enemies into a full retreat. One of the elephant riders attempted to turn the beast around but, realizing it was too slow, leapt off. Mid-fall, he was pierced through the chest by Roach's arrow and fell dead in his tracks.

As Roach's comrades rushed from behind, their thrown axes finished off the last two adversaries.

Thus ended the jungle chase and guerrilla warfare with Roach, Tree Stump, and Tree Barrel suffering minor injuries. Utilizing their range advantage, advanced guerrilla tactics, and intimate knowledge of the terrain, they had successfully annihilated the enemy.

Looking around at the two bewildered elephants left standing, Roach issued new orders. "Tree Stump, stay here. Tree Barrel, go and bring back our people. Big Tree, come with me for the mop-up."

"Mop-up? What's that?" Big Tree asked, puzzled.

"It means making sure those who are down are truly dead. Some of the enemies were just wounded by the axes, not killed. We can't leave them alive," Roach explained as he slung his longbow over his shoulder and picked up the bone spear dropped by the enemy leader.

Big Tree nodded, now understanding, and followed Roach back along their skirmish route, ensuring the dead were truly dead and collecting any intact arrows and weapons.

The two elephants, unattended, continued to follow Roach, even nudging him gently with their trunks in an apparent bid for attention.

"You're adorable, and your antics might work on someone else, but not on me," Roach thought, annoyed. Despite their cuteness and the remarkable encounter with living specimens of a species he had only seen in museum skeletons, he was resolute. "You're free now. Go on, I can't afford to keep you."

Elephants, particularly of the terror or mammoth varieties, required vast amounts of food – a fact that made them impractical for Roach to adopt, regardless of their potential utility.

Thus, Roach and Big Tree continued their grim task of ensuring all enemies were dead, collecting any salvageable weapons along the way. Upon returning to their campsite, they found that four enemies were unaccounted for – a worrying detail, but there was no time to search the expansive forest.

After a long night of skirmishes, Tree Stump and Tree Barrel finally returned with the rest of their group at dawn. Relieved that their numbers were intact, Roach distributed the captured weapons among the adults, ensuring everyone was armed before they sat down to a breakfast of roasted rabbit.

The meal, supplemented with a salty red tree sap that also served to clean their wounds, was a modest comfort after the night's ordeal. This sap, reminiscent of the antiseptic properties of dragon tree sap, was a rare primitive remedy that Roach appreciated anew.

As the group rested, the two uninvited elephant guests continued to make their presence felt, consuming the fodder meant for the blue pronghorns. Roach, frustrated by the unexpected drain on their resources, could only watch as the massive creatures innocently disrupted their plans.