12 Found in the Dark

I moved my hand around, flexed my fingers and made a fist over and over. I felt nothing, no extra weight or change in motion — the product of B-B's increase in level and Organic Weapon skill combined with Metal Lining. She was only strong enough to cover one entire hand or all the fingers on both for now. It was terrific progress all the same though.

Organic Weapon pretty much just grew claws on my fingers, but it did provide me with a weapon of sorts. The problem was they were dull as hell — only pointy blunt objects that would take a pretty decent chunk of strength to shove into something. That had to be related to B-B's own Str stat. Something to check on more next month when the reset occurred.

The gauntlet I had her create on my left hand was fascinating. Each finger was tipped with a two-inch long claw that was black the outer edge a dull grey, likely the Metal Lining. Moving from there the claws were pretty dull, mostly just pointed but each section of black moving along my finger to my palm were layered in overlapping plate-like growths. It looks strange because it just cut off at the wrist — an unfinished piece of armor in appearance.

'B-B, remove the armor and weapon.'

'B-B will! Master, why can B-B hear you?'

'I improved you, that's all.'

She thought happy thoughts at me, contentment and safety prevalent among them. It made me smile. She gave me a weapon I lacked, even if odd. I'd have to fight hand to hand for a time because of it. That was fine with me though. I rather enjoyed fighting that way. It was a more natural way to find things that could beat me in single combat. That part made me smile grimly. I was denied my afterlife. I would find it in this world someday. They would have to work for it of course.

I moved away from that train of thought and climbed up on Saga. It had been long enough. The lights around the Guild Training Yard were out, and most of the town was nice and quiet. "Up, Saga. Silent."

I wish that I could communicate to Saga like B-B. Sadly she didn't have that option at the moment. I also wasn't looking forward to that degree of pain again either. For now, I had her pad silently out of the stables — the odd snore from my Minotaur and the whiny of an Umbyr the only sound as we left. We reached the improvised wall of buildings that surrounded the yard itself just behind the stables, outside of sight. Saga bunched her legs up and used her power and size to leap onto the culvert before taking a more immediate and less prepared jump a moment later, so her wait didn't break the thin layer of wood or cause excess noise.

I patted her neck gently in praise. She had done beautifully under my pushing and prodding: no noise, no destruction. I was very proud of her. Atop the building, I got my bearings. We were about three blocks from the gates surrounding the town. The street was called beggars row. Oddly enough it wasn't for the apparent reason. The town had very few actual beggars. It had been named as a joke, and in anticipation of the event such things came about.

I clicked my tongue gently and dug my heels into her first rib to get her going. She took off at a soft trot. Moving oddly silent for her considerable bulk on these wooden roofs. We didn't encounter any real complication in our little 'escape' until we reached the wall itself. From the last building on the street to the wall was a massive distance of empty, well lit, space with several guards walking here and there or on the parapet of the wooden defense.

It made me smile a bit when I realized not a single one of the guards looked up. Not uncommon, Humans, most Humanoid Creatures most likely, are not genetically wired to search the air for predators or foes. Perhaps it was different on the walls, but that would be for them to worry about, not the people patrolling the grounds behind and below them.

I was just thankful for that little lack of survival instinct. If they had that I would have likely been found since Saga was pretty obvious, even lying on her stomach as she was. This prevented an entirely new complication though. I needed to get to the wall without being seen, and then over it. This was going to take time, time I wasn't sure I wanted to waste but knew I had to.

Getting to the wall would be easy enough. The Guard rotations were lax and straightforward. The patrols were singular and moving in one direction with five-minute intervals. The problem was the wall. They were a hell of a lot more severe up there. Not shocking with the tide threat, they were the first line of defense.

They had a guard every four feet from what I could tell, each one had their head on a swivel and was alert. It frustrated me to no end. Where was the lazy fucker taking a nap on shift I could slip by? Where was the dipshit getting his dick wet that I could take advantage of? Nowhere, that's where.

I restrained the frustrated growl that attempted to bubble up. I needed a distraction of some sort. I pulled out the Swift Horror from my pocket with a little sigh. I didn't want to risk her at all; she had a decent chunk of potential for the future. I also needed to hunt though, test theories that being in the Guild wouldn't allow me to test anytime soon.

"Listen, I need you to very carefully move up the wall. Bite the heel of one guard and then hide." I whispered to her, trying to get everything across that I could. "After the initial concern fades, bite him again and then hide and create shuffling sounds near the edge of the wall. Do not be seen." I ducked in low against Saga out of reflex when I heard a loud cough from someone on the wall before continuing. "Stay hidden, when things calm down, and you are sure you won't be seen you are to return to the stables. Do you understand?"

I was almost certain it was too much, to detailed. It seemed I was correct until a minute later she performed her odd little dipping nod and dashing off the roof, toward the ground in a blur of speed. She zigged and zagged while making no noise. It made me smile. She would become the perfect hidden tool in the future. Thankfully she had no real poison yet though if she did this idea would be out. Killing a guard to hunt was a bit too far for me.

I saw the tell-tale signs of her moving along the path, flitting from shadow to shadow as they were cast by the torches lining the road. I'd have never even seen her moving if I wasn't looking for her outright either.

Once she reached the wall, I lost track of her though. I believe she wedged herself into one of the small crevices and was using it to climb up toward the guards themselves.

So I waited to see what would happen. It didn't take long for results to happen either. I sharp yelp of surprise echoed out from the guard on the wall directly across from my position. I saw him lift a leg and shake it, looking down and behind him. The action gave me a heart attack. I was certain he'd see me. Thankfully he didn't. Nor did he see the Swift Horror.

Another guard on the wall came over, his spear held ready, and I could hear quiet whispering carried on the wind: no words, of course, but the hushed sounds they made. The bitten guard was looking at his ankle and rubbing it gently while the other took over surveying the dark surrounding the walls.

Another moment and the second guard yelped. I saw him nearly drop his spear before cursing loud enough it drew in a few other guards. Then shouting started. I could make out the word 'gather,' and a few others. It didn't matter though. My Swift Horror had done her job. More guards along that section of the wall were moving toward them while the street patrol was climbing the stairs.

It was now or never. I squeezed Saga's sides while aiming her further toward the left, out of sight and into the shadow of the wall. She just jumped to the building on the other side of the street before pouncing onto the clear path before the wall and rushing up the empty stairs away from the gathering guards. Then we were over, and I aimed her at the forest while urging her to run at a sprint.

Amazingly it had worked. No further shouts of alarm accompanied out little escapade, and they were looking toward the main road, rather than the tree line right then. Perfect, I'd need to reward that little Centipede in the near future.

When we were safely in the gloom of the forest, I patted Saga's neck and kissed the very base of her skull. "Good girl!"

Getting back in would be a bitch and a half of course. The wall wasn't exactly small enough for her to just jump back onto and over without being seen. That would require a unique form of timing all its own. A worry for then, not now though.

Saga was trotting deeper into the wood on silent paws, her ears constantly swiveling and taking in every sound the forest exuded. Her eyes were likely to alight with pleasure at the idea of hunting as well. I couldn't see them, but I could imagine it. I was excited myself as well. Doing it this close to town would make it safer as well, the Guild would have cleared the forest of most threats, and the few that showed up shouldn't be an issue for Saga and me now. If they were, or I felt the odds were awful, I'd have us hightail it back to town without a second thought.

About fifteen minutes into our little trek through the forest, a little deeper than the first two layers of trees but not by much, Saga went still while lowering herself lightly and zeroing in on something to our left.

The little I could make out through the gaps in the foliage and the scant light the densely leafed trees allowed from the moon and stars showed me the tawny brown hide that seemed to be about the same size as Saga herself.

I couldn't make out much more than that sadly, but she didn't show any signs of overt aggression, just the tensing of a predator spotting prey. I ran my tongue over my teeth gently and leaned further of her body as carefully as I could before whispering into her ear. "Stalk."

She lowered herself further, almost into a belly crawl, and moved somewhat back and further to the right, following the wind, so her scent didn't blow in the Creatures direction.

I smiled at the skill she showed. Canine Creatures, by nature, were not solo hunters. Yet here she was, stalking prey and getting ready to chase it down on her own. I tilted my head a bit. Not alone, I was here with her, but short of helping finish the kill, I wasn't going to be keeping up in a knock-down drag-out chase between two massive Creatures.

I let Saga do as she wished while observing how she did it. I learned more about silent movement and changing my path to match the blowing wind this way than I ever would have on my own.

We changed out direction at least five times, and it took twenty minutes for us to move closer to the Creature itself. We had to be at least fifteen feet from it when Saga stopped moving entirely. Every single muscle in her body bunching, getting her ready to jump at the Creature.

I felt my own adrenaline surge in anticipation and finally got a perfect look at the thing just as Saga launched herself up and at the beast. It was something that looked like a buck. The difference from what I knew as a buck and what this thing was ended at that tawny brown pelt though where a decent sized buck was about the size of a man this fucking thing dwarfed men by a foot with a sprawling array of sharp looking prongs on his impressive rack. The fucking thing would have tallied at twenty-thousand points on earth, unheard of if it tallied ten.

I saw the steam of its breath as it exhaled while looking at Saga moving to collide with his impressive bulk, saw the deep brown eyes that seemed to be filled with intelligence widen in horror and surprise at the realization that it had allowed a predator to get to close to him without noticing.

Then it was off, turning in near slow motion and bounding away, Saga hot on his heels. A long echoing cry that sounded more like a foghorn than a deer call was let out and then time reasserted itself in a blurring rush while Saga gained on the big creature slowly.

I sat utterly still, moving effortlessly with Saga's bounding strides and sudden jerks and jumps. Something years of practice had taught me. The most I did was curl in further to her, so the wind drag didn't make it harder for her to catch the deer.

I had no idea how long we chased that beautiful fucker, but she caught up to it on the right and snapped a bite out at the front leg. She missed by a fraction and lost a foot on him in the chase before moving quicker, dodging a fallen log with a bound that brought her up and over the Creatures back.

That's when things got a bit hectic. She landed on his back, clamping her jaws onto the deer's front shoulder blade. The sudden collision had the unpleasant effect of throwing me from Saga's back while she did her best to ride that big buck down to the ground with weight and pain.

I slammed into a small sapling hard — the impact knocking the air from my lungs in a single gasp. I was just glad I'd managed to roll myself into the tumble and prevent any real injuries. Saga herself was occupied with the suddenly screaming buck while it became a bucking bronco trying to throw her or stab her with its huge rack.

I couldn't help it. I started to laugh in excitement and exhilaration then. Anyone who has ever been on a hunt would know precisely why I did it. Seeing such a colossal beauty going down after a hard chase. I didn't kill him of course, had nothing really to do with it, but being a part of that was terrific.

She finally brought the big beast down and clamped her jaws over the thrashing Creature while it gasped out its last breath. She was keeping eye contact with the great beast as the life faded from its desperate eyes as well. I wasn't sure why, but I had a sudden sense of being humbled for a split second as the buck perished and Saga let the head loll to the ground from her mouth.

She looked like she was about to start tearing into the bucks stomach to get the choicest bits; stomach, liver, heart, that sort of thing but stopped suddenly and looked in my direction.

Her ears were alert for some reason, and I felt a chill go down my back when I realized that there was literally no sound in the forest with the fighting having stopped — only the panting of Saga and my own heavy breathing. That wasn't a good sign.

I saw her hackles raise and heard the stirrings of a growl as she started racing toward me.

I barely noticed that though, I was too occupied by the sudden cold and clammy palm that had braced itself against the back of my neck, overly long claws reaching around to almost engulf my head while a sibilant and hissing voice whispered against my ear. It sounded like overly dry and crackling paper. It sounded inhuman. It sounded evil.

"Fo-u-n-d you Patriarch reborn…" then I was engulfed in blackness, pulled high into the trees above while seeing Saga slam into the tree I had been against, howling after me.