Chương 74: Tracking Squirt

As the track they had been followed turned southward, Squirt knew they had been unlucky. The quake wyrm had entirely skipped the town with the planted peppers, diverting far enough away from the village that Squirt had to climb a tree just to see the village walls to orient herself. When she hopped down, she caught the mutter from Chief Huntress Lobelia.

"It's ridiculous to be that embarrassed by their color." It was said under her breath amid the rest of her hunters, who all looked significantly more impressed for some reason Squirt couldn't conceptualize. She had climbed a tree. It wasn't that impressive. Regardless, they continued on their trek, riding hard the whole way. Those lucky enough to have a spare mount swapped when necessary to keep theirs refreshed enough in case they encountered the wyrm early.

By the time the sun was starting to dip below the horizon, they reached what remained of the second village. Reaching the bend in the channel they had been riding through, Squirt's expression hardened as soon as she caught sight of the broken walls strewn around in the wake of the creature. The stench of blood hung heavily in the air. By some miracle, there were still bodies of the dead, the wards on the walls having still done their duty of turning away most beasts even shattered as they were.

With barely a thought, Mole climbed up the hill to survey the destruction more closely. Half of the village had been obliterated. At the sounds of their approach, gaunt faces shadowed by the violent horrors they had been subjected to rose up. Alive, but clearly in desperate need of assistance. The wards that had held the majority of beasts at bay would fade, possibly even that night, and more than a few of the fey were clearly injured. They wouldn't be able to defend themselves.

Squirt remembered these faces, having seen them only days ago, and bitterly hoped the village chief was amongst the dead. With confirmed survivors before her, she pulled out the beacon for Jezalin when one of the Norland hunters asked, "Should we stop? Or keep the chase going?" He had asked Chief Huntress Lobelia. She turned her gaze to Squirt. Squirt hunched as she broke the beacon to call for Jezalin. Gods damn it. Now she had to make decisions. This was stupid.

With a huff, Squirt dropped off Mole's back, trotting forward to a nearby corpse that had suffered the basilisk venom. Shifting the body carefully to its side, morbidly glad it was a pixie and not a goliath, she studied the splotch that had been hidden from the sun. Compared it to the one that had been in direct sunlight. Considered the ambient amount of heat in the summer sun.

"… we're close," she murmured. They were. Only an hour or two behind the posse of beasts they had been chasing all day. The path it had taken had started meandering, no longer the straight shot of a surge-minded creature but the wandering of a predator on the prowl. She suspected it would soon bed down in a territory along with its basilisk posse. Either that or turn further south towards Norland's keep, which might hit another village on the way that Squirt and her team hadn't had the opportunity to help yet.

Biting her lip, she turned back to the group.

"Zakam, you stay and help the people here. Anvanil, you, too. You can ward the village, right?" Anvanil ran his fingers through his fluffy pink hair. Zakam didn't hesitate, dismounting from his beast and jogging over to help the townsfolk who were trying to excavate a family buried by the wreckage. The pink haired fey nodded.

"I… I can. Temporarily, at least." She nodded.

"Good. Chief Huntress Lobelia, I suggest you leave some people here if you believe they would be helpful. It's almost dark, so only those comfortable traveling in the woods at night should continue." Chief Huntress Lobelia gave her a hard stare.

"You plan to hunt it at night." Squirt scowled, dropping her gaze on instinct and shuffling her feet. Jul glanced between them before saying not unkindly, "Huntress, you're the one in charge. You can speak without a question." Chief Huntress Lobelia blinked repeatedly, utterly baffled by the concept, while Squirt flushed with embarrassed rage and muttered, "I knew that." Clearing her throat, she forced her eyes to rise to the chief huntress as she said, "I plan to observe.

If it's nesting down and claiming territory, then keeping an eye on it and reporting on its movements is enough." She frowned.

"You don't think it will stay." She dropped her eyes automatically at the barest sign of disagreement. Then she scowled, annoyed that she had. Shifting from foot to foot awkwardly, she finally grumbled out, "I'd rather not assume, Chief Huntress." Chief Huntress Lobelia considered her.

"… fine." Turning to the rest of her hunters, she barked out, "Set up, help the town. I will go with her. Be prepared for an emergency call, but otherwise, bunk for the night and keep watch. Be ready to move out with dawn's glow." They saluted, hopping off their steeds and rushing in to help the townsfolk, several clearly eager and glad to be able to help while Korga had a more petulant, put-out expression as she muttered about lost glory. This story originates from a different website.

Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Psychopath. Lady Cirn looked almost as put-out, and Squirt glared at her. She glared back. Squirt dropped her eyes automatically, mentally cursing herself as she snapped out, " Fine, but stay back when I tell you to, and for gods' sake, smother your damn aura." Clear satisfaction in her teal eyes, Jul then asked, "Me, too?" Squirt wanted to groan. He was at least better than she was at smothering his aura, his practice finally paying off.

"Fine. Anvanil, keep the magic usage low—" A beam of light landed next to Squirt in the devastation, stunning all of the fey there including Squirt. The light hovered next to her, a warmth to it that seemed strangely playful. The light grew larger, stretching out in height until a fey formed underneath. Jezalin appeared as the light faded, smiling down at the awed look of wonder on Squirt's face.

It took two whole seconds for Squirt to realize she was staring at the woman in wonder, and she dropped her eyes quickly to hide her blush. It didn't, of course, as the blush ended up hitting the tips of her slightly pointed ears, and Jezalin hid a flattered smile behind her hand before tactfully moving on.

"I'm glad to see you unhurt, but I see why I've been called. I assume you are off again?" Squirt nodded tightly, dizzy with embarrassment and tense with anger at herself for it.

"You have another beacon to call me if you have need, yes?" Jul answered, "I do, my lady."

"Then may the Hunt bless your bow." Without waiting for another reply, she turned and quickstepped to the nearest fey in distress. Squirt didn't look at the others as she took off, afraid to see their reactions to her befuddlement, and instead forced herself forward onto Mole's back. She could do very little to help the people here now, but she could divert the horde and prevent them from returning for a feast in the night.

That was far more important than diving further into whatever the fuck that tangled web of emotions might possibly be. That she intended to avoid at all cost. A little over an hour later, Squirt halted the party, jumping off of Mole and pressing her ear into the ground. Spreading out her hands and laying them flat on the ground as well, she listened for the wyrm and posse of basilisks. Through the earth, she could feel the faint vibrations. Nodding to herself, she turned back to the group.

"Stay here." Lady Cirn said, "But—" Jul cut her off as he nodded to her and said, "Understood, huntress." Chief Huntress Lobelia, on the other hand, dismounted alongside her and said, "I will be going with you." Squirt glared at her and snapped, "No you fucking won't." Having sufficiently stunned the woman, she said, "If you must follow, come no closer than the redcap. I told you, the beasts won't notice me. I'm not enough of a target.

You, on the other hand, are at least as powerful as Zakam and almost as powerful as Jul. Not even smothering your aura will work to get as close as I can." The huntress's eyes narrowed.

"I thought you said to stay here. Was that not an order for the whole group?" Squirt huffed, pulling out her Skyian recurve and stringing it with a grunt as she answered.

"Qzi and Zhadin do what they want. I can order them to stay here, but they won't." She straightened and pointed at Jul to Mole, commanding him to stay with Jul. She then shot the woman another glare as she muttered, "Not everyone is as perfect as Mole."

"Pricklebear, you can't mean that you consider Mole to be better than me—" Squirt turned on her heel and jogged off without bothering to answer. He grinned as he dismounted, shooting Lobelia an appraising look. She glared at him and bit out, "I will obey, even if I don't like it." He smirked.

"That's what our pricklebear likes." He turned and melted into the forest after the pixie, and Lobelia muttered, " Our?" incredulously as she melted into the forest after him. Lobelia was stunned as she stared down at the sight before her. She counted three times just to be sure—thirty-seven basilisks, and an evolved quake wyrm. Meaning the meals it had had today allowed it to grow in size.

Now twenty-five feet across and almost two-hundred long, even from the distance she was at, standing atop a tree several hundred meters away, she shivered at the latent power she could sense. Enhancing her sight, she frowned when she thought she saw a shadow of movement. Focusing in on it, her jaw dropped as she watched the tiny pixie greenling walk between the basilisks. They truly didn't see her.

She was being stealthy enough that even knowing she was there and watching her as closely as she could, the woman still disappeared several times from her sight, only to pop up again almost a hundred meters away. Not even her hound stood with her. Either this was a blessing from the goddess herself or… or truly, every greenling would be practically invisible to beasts. It was obvious, in hindsight. Lobelia simply couldn't deny that she had never thought of it before. Fine. The pixie got one passing mark.

It was the first incredible thing she'd seen the woman do since they'd met. Her actions during the surge had merely been good, not the awe-inspiring feats of a godly chosen. She let her mind drift as she watched, wondering again about her goddess's exact words to her in her dream when there came a shift in the tree. She blinked down at the greenling who was clambering up into the tall branches, her redcap suitor close behind and her hound simply warping onto the branch she settled on.

Athereon gave the hound a dirty look and muttered, "Show off." Lobelia shook her head in disbelieving annoyance.

"He's Her moon hound." Athereon's expression darkened.

"And?" Lobelia glared before biting out, "You treat him like anything but a blessing." The tension suddenly skyrocketed, and the hair on the back of Lobelia's neck stood on end as she became acutely aware of the shadowfell's presence behind her. Athereon hissed out, "Knock it off. And he is a blessing. One I paid for in blood several times over. He's still a fucking show-off. He could have climbed."

The tension eased somewhat, and Lobelia gave Athereon a grateful nod, making the tiny woman glower before she abruptly moved on.

"If we're lucky, they'll stay there all night. They only just finished evolving, so it's possible they'll move if they sense prey. When their hunger kicks in, it will be stronger than usual, so their range may extend… so long as the fey are good and go to bed, we'll be safe. Zhadin, can you update the other two?"

"As you wish," came the husky whisper from the fell. They settled in to wait, Lobelia's mind drifting back around the same topic that had been bothering her for days. Why her? Why this pixie, this greenling? Maybe she was simply more devout than Lobelia, only she'd never even seen the woman pray. She couldn't be shy about her worship given that she had the goddess's mark tattooed on her forehead, and yet, Lobelia was starting to wonder if she kept her worship entirely private.

Stewing in her thoughts and insecurities, Lobelia didn't immediately clock the change. Squirt did.