Chương 29: Someone Call a Duck-ter

Crrr. Crr. Hhrooon. The creature inched forward, shaking and rubbing its head like it was in pain. Black feathers fell to the ground in spades. It looked at the tree Martin and LOA were hanging from and hissed. It lurched forward with its claws extended and went for the base of the tree. Veronika jumped back and fell to a sitting position. With one swipe, the creature had cut clean through the tree trunk. At that distance, she could see dark and viscous blood dripping from several cracks in the creature's body.

Every step elicited a high-pitched whine from its maw. It was difficult to watch, even for Veronika's cold, dead heart. The tree fell right next to her, and the vines holding her friends loosened on impact. Martin and LOA quickly scrambled out of the mess and ran to Veronika's side. The creature cocked its head at all of them before turning back to the witches. Whatever it was, it had decided they were allies. Terrible news for the remaining witches.

"Fuck…this fucking thing again," said the coven head.

"Forget the hunters. We need to leave now." They both traced the tattoos on their arms. Feathers starting growing out of their skin, not too dissimilar from the feathers on the strange beast. Their wingspan grew to accommodate their bodies, and they took off into the sky. The creature howled up at them and started flapping its own wings in pursuit. The inky blood splattered against the three hunters. The gusts of wind coming from its wings were so strong it sent them back a few meters.

When they opened their eyes, it was in the air, following the two witches. Just as it did on land, it cried and twisted its body unnaturally as it forced itself to continue flying. It reminded Veronika of herself. She hoped her eagle eggs would grow into a beast as noble as that one, though she wasn't sure how long it would be able to keep itself in the air. It looked like it was already starting to lose the battle with gravity.

"What was that?" Veronika asked.

"It was…beautiful." Officer Martin let go of a breath she was holding." That was Captain Rolan. Please don't ask me to explain right now, I feel like my internal organs have been turned into soup."

"What?!" LOA yelled, running forward to try and keep track of the creature's flight.

"B-but, will he be okay? Shouldn't we follow and make sure he lands safely?" Martin coughed up a glob of blood.

"Yeah, yeah. One of you will have to carry me, though. I'm in no shape to run, and those bitches used magic to teleport our car somewhere." She looked back at the spiral of light.

"We'll need to leave a message for Officer Pereira. Pajiri-Li, you seem to have some blood to spare. Use it to write something on a tree." She did just that, leaving a short message telling Officer Pereira to meet them back at the base. LOA lifted Officer Martin onto her back, and they started running after the three figures in the sky. Unfortunately, it looked like Rolan was losing distance on them. The strained flaps of his wings were not enough to keep him up.

He started rapidly falling until his body vanished beneath the treeline. They picked up the pace and plowed through the jungle fauna. Veronika started to smell smoke ahead. It wasn't long before they reached a clearing surrounded by flaming trees and shrubs. Soot lined a lifeless circle that Rolan lay in the center of. His body was now back to normal, save for the cuts that were still oozing blood. Veronika ran to his side and checked his pulse. It was faster than usual, but there was nothing too worrying about it.

LOA let Officer Martin down and removed her backpack. Both of them could receive medical treatment now.

"LOA, stay here with me and treat Captain Rolan's injuries. Pajiri-Li, you need to find us a new car. Something that can get us back to base." Veronika wanted to stay with the captain, but she understood that car duty had to go to her and not LOA. The bot was too soft. She couldn't be trusted to do whatever was necessary to secure a new vehicle. Careful theft was the safest way to go about it, if possible. Veronika was still outclassed by most pawns in terms of level.

By herself, that presented too many uncertainties for her to try ambushing large groups alone. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. The most obvious place to look was along the inland shore of Ring, where participants were still gathering to face Limbo. If she was lucky, she'd find an unattended vehicle just as the witches found theirs. She walked just behind the trees closest to the light.

It took three kilometers of walking before she found any signs of life. Mostly tire tracks and footsteps, with no cars to be seen. Perhaps the witches didn't start their stealing spree with the hunters' vehicle. Plenty of brave challengers would be in for a rude awakening. She snuck by a few encampments of people sitting near their precious belongings and waiting for friends still fighting to leave Limbo. They weren't worth the fight unless her search came up empty handed.

Her patient judgement was rewarded when she came across an abandoned subcompact car. It would be quite a squeeze to fit all five of them in there, but it was better than nothing. As rich in resources as Ring was, cars were hard to manufacture, and they had to be a rarity here. You found a car without getting into a fight! Not very witch hunter of you, but I'll throw you +1 [Learning] for it. Too bad the owners weren't dumb enough to leave the keys behind.

Veronika wasted another fifteen minutes hotwiring the damn thing. Good thing her mother made sure her training was broad. She started the car and drove it back towards her friends on the inland shore. The people she passed along the way shot her a quick glance, but one look at her hat made them pry their heads away. Why were hunters so feared here? Well, the island did technically make every inhabitant a heretic. Veronika had no interest in hunting inconsequential nobodies, though.

When she returned to the spot the hunters had parked at, she found Pereira standing at the tree with the message. Veronika leaned out of the car window and called to her.

"Hey, Officer Pereira! Over here!" Pereira snapped her head back and visibly relaxed when she saw Veronika's face. She hurried into the car and pulled Veronika into a hug before there was time for any objection. Veronika tensed up and forced her hands in between their bodies.

"Oh thank the Rose you're here! I was worried I'd have to hike all the way back by myself."

"Martin and Rolan are injured," Veronika said plainly.

"We need to head back and pick them up before anyone can take advantage of the situation." Pereira backed off and nodded. She hummed for the rest of the car ride, much to Veronika's chagrin. It seemed to be a nervous tick. It was a very stressful last few days, after all. When they came across the clearing, Officer Martin was resting against a tree, while LOA was still wrapping bandages across Rolan's body. Both of them smiled when Veronika rolled up, which she hadn't witnessed Martin actually do yet.

"Looks like we're not fucked after all," Martin said.

"Oh, and Pereira's alive too. That's a nice bonus." Rolan was placed in the trunk. It wasn't the most dignified place for a captain to be, but the alternative was for someone to hold him in their lap, and that was several times worse. LOA squeezed next to him and closed the trunk. Pereira and Martin were the lucky ones who ended up sharing a seat. The way back was long and awkward. The subcompact car was nowhere near as fast or suitable for rough terrain as the last one.

Maybe they could strike the coven while it was down a member and take it back. They seemed to be terrified of Rolan anyway. Speaking of Rolan, Veronika tried her best not to think too hard about the monstrous form she saw him in. It had to be some sort of witch's curse. It was a standard occupational hazard for any hunter, let alone a captain. Yes, that was the only possible explanation… Martin filled Pereira in on everything that had happened with the witches on the way back.

They stopped at the bottom of their mountain. Home sweet mountain home. The elevator that took them down in their truck brought them back up with ease. LOA carried Martin and Rolan to the infirmary.

"She's gonna need more than rest," Pereira said.

"She might be bleeding internally, and none of us know any quick healing skills."

"So we find someone that does," Veronika responded. Pereira laughed.

"From where? The one mystic we managed to snag got away. His leader used some bullshit skill to make us give him up. Unless a new one washed up here yesterday, all of the mystics should be at his monastery."

"And you're scared to face the leader again?"

"What? No! I just-she's just got a lot of tricks in her skillset. Physically she's not a threat." Veronika rubbed her chin.

"Mystics can't be the only ones with healing skills, right? There's these people…what are they called? They heal without using magic, but it takes a lot longer and can't do as much. Duck-ters? Doctors! They're doctors, my mom talked about them before."

"Girl, what the hell are you talking about? Who would bother practicing a shittier form of healing?"

"I mean, they're rare these days, but they were everywhere before mystic monasteries started popping up everywhere." Veronika shrugged.

"I guess the chance of one being on this island is next to zero, but if someone had a similar role, they'd presumably have healing skills." Pereira patted her on the back.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but if General Pajiri talked about them, I guess it's something worth investigating."