62 Animal Cruelty

Deeper inside the forest, I let Shelly off. "We have a few weeks of travel in front of us again. I'm not sure how big the next village is, but hopefully they have a more detailed map. Otherwise, we would be going blind", I said. We maybe travelled for a few hundred metres, when I noticed someone following us. I quickly grabbed Shelly, and hid myself in the bushes.

Not even a minute later, two males appeared in my view. "Hey, are you sure he went this way?", one of them asked. "Well, yea. The tracks indicated that. We should be close, so keep an eye out", the other one replied. 'Hmm, I wonder whether they are after my wealth or something else?', I asked myself. Buying a map for almost one gold coin, meant I had some money. Though my guess was they didn't come for money.

"Hmm, the tracks end here... I think we shouldn't mess with that guy", one of the men said. "What do you mean the tracks end here?", the other asked. "It's simple. He either knows we followed him, or is very skilled at hiding his tracks and doesn't want to be followed. We know nothing about his strength. Besides, Ron said he was looking for a map with the northern regions expanded. This turtle was just a bonus job, let's grab the usual prey and get paid", the first man replied.

'Just as I suspected, they were after Shelly. Though I must admit, they are no idiots. That guy knows when to stop', I thought. Still, they made a mistake of even trying to target us. 'For some reason, they wanted to get Shelly. Now they are going to get something else, interesting', I thought and followed them quietly.

The two men travelled through the forest for pretty much a day. They only stopped when we arrived at a small mountain range. 'That's actually the first time I see mountains in person. I wonder what they are up to', I thought. The two men discussed something for a while, but then set up a camp. I doubted they were simple hunters, because that wouldn't explain why they followed me. They were after animals but I wasn't sure why. 'Why would they target Shelly? What exactly are they trying to achieve?', I asked myself.

The two men sleep until late in the night, but then showed some movements. "Shelly, make sure to stay quiet now. I want to know what they are up to. This stinks to me", I said quietly and Shelly nodded. We followed the two further up the mountain, they were sneaking at that point so the progress was slow. That was until the stopped all of a sudden. 'Deer?', I asked myself confused. 'No, these are not the usual deer. These have a coat of fur, and look a bit different', I realised after focusing a bit more.

The two men slowly approached the group of furry deer, until they grabbed one and fed it something. Other furry deer woke up and ran away in all directions. They didn't kill the deer, they caught it alive. 'What the hell is going on here? Are they selling those deer alive?', I asked myself, confused.

The two men wrapped the furry deer in cloth, then packed it into a large bag. "Alright, we can leave now. This one is healthy, so he should be happy with this one", one of the men said. "Yea. I still don't get why he does it to them, and then releases those things back into the forest. All of them pretty much die anyway, so what's the point?", the other man asked. "I don't care. As long as we are getting paid well, what he does with them doesn't concern me", the first man replied. "Anyway, let's get some rest and then head back", he added.

The two men returned to their camp, and slept for the rest of the night. 'Just what exactly are they doing to those furry deer?', I asked myself when Shelly tugged on my shirt. "What's wrong?", I asked quietly. Shelly pointed at the mountain, then looked at me. "Why do you want to go there?", I ask confusedly. Shelly drew something that looked like the furry deer, then pointed at me and the mountain. "...You want me to check up on those furry deer?", I asked, unsure. Shelly nodded in confirmation.

I actually wanted to follow these two guys back, but I knew where they lived. "Alright, we will go check up on them after these two leave. I don't want to alert them", I replied. The two men left in the morning, giving us the opportunity to check up on the furry deer. "I still don't know why you want to do this, Shelly. I'd prefer to follow them, and find out who ordered that furry deer to be captured", I said. Shelly shook its head, before pointing at the mountain again.

The furry deer immediately tried to run away when they saw me approach, but Shelly made some noises that made them stop. 'What the?', I asked myself in shock. Shelly 'ordered' me to stay behind, while it approached them by itself. 'To think Shelly could communicate with other animals... How does that even work?', I asked myself.

Shelly and a few furry deer released all sorts of noises, as if having a conversation. A while later, Shelly ran back to me with a worried expression. "What's wrong?", I asked, still confused. Shelly pulled my leather pants, making me follow. Shelly took me to the furry deer, who seemed scared of me but didn't run away. "Shelly, can you explain what is going on? I have no clue", I said. Shelly began drawing something like a cave, and then a fury deer but it looked different. "Mah, Mah!", Shelly exclaimed at its drawings.

I wasn't sure what Shelly meant exactly, so it made me follow again. After a while, we arrived at a cave. "So you drew that cave, and I'm supposed to check the insides?", I asked. This time, Shelly nodded. "Alright, let's go", I replied before walking inside. The cave was rather dark, I couldn't make out much until my eyes adjusted. "What the?...", I asked myself shocked.

A disfigured furry deer laid in one of the corners of the cave. The animal lacked one leg, which seemed to be cut off. It's head had scars, and only one eye. There were no horns atop its head, only empty groves where the horns should be. I could also see shedding of its fur and even more wounds on its body. Then everything clicked together. These two caught those furry deer alive for this exact reason. Some sick bastard was doing that to them, then releasing those disfigured furry deer back into the forest.

The disfigured furry deer released some painful screams when it heard us. "Do you want me to end it's life?", I asked. Shelly nodded, and I did just that. The screams died down quickly, and the disfigured furry deer could finally rest in peace. We left the cave where a few furry deer awaited us. Shelly looked at me, then back at the furry deer. "You want me to help them, right? I'd lie if I said this sits well with me. These types of bastards deserve death", I said before walking over to the furry deer. They were scared, even though I meant them no harm. "It's alright now, I'm not going to hurt you... I will take care of it, there, there. Let's wait for those two to return here, Shelly. I have a few questions to ask them", I added while petting one of them.