Chương 53: Fortress

Just a few days later Blick spotted the first signs of civilization. It was quite unexpected. Blick stopped in a random spot on the river bank as a young child filled a bucket with water and placed it in the opposite end of a stick that had another already attached to. It was pretty far into the distance but Blick could tell by the size that it had to be a child. Maybe close to the little girl Nashas size.

He stood and watched as the distant child lifted the stick with two buckets and slowly walked into the wood line. The little human never looked over its shoulder. It hadn't even really lifted its head from its task. Blick wasn't exactly hidden standing on a pale rocky shore with a giant yellow and blue bird on his shoulder. The damn bird was really starting to outgrow its favorite perch but Blick was a patient person so he allowed it.

Either the kid had zero sense of self preservation or it was extremely convinced there weren't any predators nearby. He continued on towards the area the kid disappeared and before he even got too close he noticed the well cleared path the child had taken back into the woods. This road was just packed dirt. Nothing fancy, honestly. Blick could see several sets of footprints in the soft dirt coming and going. It wasn't just children that used this path. It was interesting to note there was an array of footwear used.

Most of them had been barefoot. Blick was always barefoot… he chuckled at the potential joke there as people always thought he was a bear man. Humans tended to avoid being barefoot outside of their homes. They had softer more delicate skin. A silly design for an animal honestly. Blicks squishy but thick pads on the bottoms of his feet provided traction and protection for most random pokes.

Before he dove headfirst into his list of reasons why humans were just shaped wrong he shook himself and focused back on the task at hand. Following the path ahead he jumped into the woods when he saw the first person on the trail. Not the kid for sure as Blick wasn't moving fast enough to catch anyone. He peered through the brush as the wide man standing on the road with his arms crossed. He was wearing brown baggy pants tied up above his belly button with a rope.

A stained white shirt and a tan vest with several pockets. He had a slender sword on his side and a short coil of rope he didn't know the purpose of on his shoulder. Blick snuck closer slowly being extra cautious. He was almost annoyed at how little this person payed attention to his surroundings. The man hadn't looked anywhere but down the road away from the river like he was confident there would never be anything coming from the river.

He shrugged accepting that some people were just not as smart as him, and he moved along the path staying hidden from the man. He eventually caught up to the young boy who was taking a break with his two water buckets under a tree. The child was dirty and sweaty from the work. He sat taking deep breaths and Blick watched him for long enough to notice the scars along his exposed arms. The young boy wore baggy pants the same as the big guy earlier and a stained white shirt. The shirt had no sleeves though.

His hair was falling in his eyes as he tilted his face to the ground. The child had no shoes and from the rough look of them, he never wore shoes for some reason. This kid was far more interesting than the last human so Blick moved on down the path hopeful to find more people. What Blick found further down the road was something he didn't have a concept of. He knew a lot of human words, but nobody had explained what this camp was. He knew soldiers. He knew citizens.

There was clearly a difference and the relationship between the two was mutually beneficial. Even when someone in society broke a rule and was arrested by soldiers it was a bit more respectful than this scene. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. There was a wood fence wrapped around the very large clearing. He took his usual trick of climbing the nearest tree to see what was behind it.

The bird just held on tighter to his shoulder causing him to wince when he jumped and it clenched too hard. He gestured for it to hop on a nearby branch and gave it a couple of short pushes to get it to let him go before it agreed with a shallow squawk. He sat down some food and gave its belly a soft brush before moving in for a closer look. Inside was a series of fences and gates that he could see people moving through. In one fenced area was a large long building that had a line of people exiting at the moment.

Everyone wore the same outfit as the young boy on the road. Two large men stood around with a short rope in their hand watching the line progress through a gate and into another fenced off area. These two wore a similar vest as the man on the road had. He watched the group move along through several more gates before his line of sight was blocked by another large building that was tall and square instead of short and long like the one they started at.

Moving to another tree he dodged the sightline of another handful of men with short ropes and came around to the edge of the forest. Apparently this is where the forest ended and the camp was on the edge of the forest and a plains like area with rocky outcroppings. The fenced area was very large. Not quite the size of a city but a large village. A mile at least in length the trip from tree to tree while remaining hidden was a drag.

Last time he had spied on a camp like this he was found and nearly stuck full of arrows. He hadn't seen any actual weapons inside the camp. The man on the road had the only blade he had seen so far. As he neared the corner of the fence he stretched out to look down the side around the corner. The side fence line had a few towers along it evenly spaced. He could make out the silhouette of two people inside the closest one but the rest were too far away.

He couldn't make out any weapons, but logic would indicate they likely had some ranged way of dealing with others. Why else would they be up there. It was even more odd when he realized they almost never turned to face away from camp. The two people in the tower seemed to focus entirely inside the camp. Not sure what the next move was Blick sat in the tree and considered his options. He was terribly curious about this place but didn't want to find himself hunted or trapped again.

The camp was exposed to the mostly flat plain on three sides and only part of the forest side actually had trees hovering over the fence line. Blicks usual tactic of hiding in trees would not help him once inside the camp. The thought honestly terrified him. With towers on the three sides looking in, he didn't know how well he could sneak around inside the camp. And assuming they had ranged weapons he wasn't sure about escaping up the fence to get out of he was spotted.

He had searched the area for several hours before he decided it was likely best to just move on. The risk didn't justify satisfying his curiosity. It was the first time he could remember actually judging something too dangerous. Maybe that was his personal growth or him learning from his experiences. Maybe he was just past his reckless youth. Whatever it was he felt good about being able to tell himself no.