Chapter 54: Trojan Horse

It was a nice morning in the mountain range, the name of which Verdania didn't bother sharing with the boy. He was sitting close to one of the muddier sources of water. He couldn't bring his uniform to the mountain, and his regular clothes were all gone, now everything he wore was self-made.

He washed one of the furs he had recently skinned from the local wildlife and prepared to sew himself some new clothes using some of Ari's spider webs. His new clothes were very durable, but the coloring of it all wasn't matching, and Ciaran ended up looking like the creation of a blind toddler playing dress up.

"Well, it's the practicality of the clothes that counts, if it keeps you warm it's good enough right?" He asked the black bear that was laying next to him.

It looked at him for a moment then it looked away and continued to enjoy its mud bath.

"Everybody is a critic." The boy clicked his tongue.

Since they were in the safe zone, even the strongest creatures behaved there. No one fought or showed any aggression, and nothing dirty got near the clean water. That was both a blessing and a curse for the boy.

On one hand, this unique situation provided him with a clean water source, not that his body wouldn't handle a bit of dirty water, but he preferred the clean stuff, as well as a safe haven, to relax in the sun for a while. He loved the home they had built for themselves, but he wanted to be outside for a change, plus he could talk to other 'people' here too. As an added bonus, they didn't even respond, it was truly perfect.

Once he was done, Ari appeared and the duo left. During their time here some had tried to track them back, few succeeded in finding their base, and none left alive. The boy was paranoid when it came to protection, he had fortified the cave so much, even a Rank Three entity would have a hard time leaving it alive.

Their living quarters might have been completed, but the duo still kept on digging. There was no way they would kill the Hawks if they moved on foot, the darn thing that attacked them was Rank Two, and its partner was a very strong Rank One. Worse still, they didn't know where the birds were nesting, so they had to do a bunch of scouting.

They had set a rule for themselves, they would move outside their base, but only within a kilometer of one of its entrances, and even that came with more rules. To move so far away, they first had to be fed, quenched, well rested, and on top of their game, if not the distance shortened.

Their time was running out, and there was only a month left before their hunt would end, but they didn't rush.

"Never again"

Had become something of a motto for them. Their injuries were healed, but the trauma stayed, no matter how much they tried to ignore it. But they had the plan to deal with that too.

If the thing that inflicted that burden on them was dead, they would become better, or at least that was the theory. Hurt them worse than they hurt us.

And with every day, their chances got better and better. Ciaran had been wrong about his abilities, with every day his connection to the Wind got stronger. With every day, Ari was getting closer to making her own with fire. She had no idea how to make the first step, but she was connected to someone who was already walking down the magic path.

It didn't give her any answers, nor did it even tell her where to start, but it showed her what the connection felt like. It was precious little, but she was going to make it work somehow.

And nine days before Verdania's second to last visit, they had found the nest. To their horror and rage, it was on another mountain. The two were close enough to each other so the duo could see the nest, but they had no way to get near it.

The good news was that the two birds were parents. They had three eggs and one chicken. Ciaran licked his lips as his eyes glowed in a light blue light. He could work with that, he had done more damage with far less.

"So that's why they attacked us before. They needed food for their young. They cant feed its unranked self with anything stronger than Rank Zero meat after all. And its mom even took its time to grab a snack too. How adorable." Ciaran said, and he smiled, his face the very picture of elegance and etiquette.

If they were going to do this it would have to be big. First, they needed chaos, and a lot of it, even more than the mass migration from before. Next, there needed to be some Rank Zeros for the Hawks to come. And finally, whatever they did, they needed enough resources left after, so they could deal with the Hawks.

Ari suggested they used bait, but that wouldn't work on a Rank Two, they were too smart for that. Ciaran thought, for hours, but he could only come up with one thing – he needed to break the rules again, to poison the water for everyone.

He could only contaminate the water for a few days at best, but it was more than enough for a riot to break out. And during the commotion, the young of the beasts would be more vulnerable. An easy target for the Hawks. Kill and eat the parents, feed their kids to their young featherling.

Now the question was just how he would get to the water, poison it with enough of his supply, and leave before he died.

He could not dig into it. If he tried there was a real chance their home would get flooded. Going higher and trying from there was also impossible for the current them.

They brainstormed for hours, but when they started to get hungry, they went out to hunt. Tonight on the menu was a Rank One vulture. They were big and bulky, but that only made them a bigger target for the itchy powder.

"They can't fly if they need to scratch now can they?" Ciaran laughed as he chew on his baked wing. Their kill made him think how far they had come since they first came here. It has been only a little over two months, but it felt like years to the boy.

When he thought about the first time they killed one of these overgrown birds he had an idea. A bad one, but it could work. Ari looked at him and sighed, it was going to be a long week for them, and for the rest of this zone as well.

They would need to hire help and Ciaran knew just the crew for the job. It was deer season for the dynamic duo, and their new targets had to be handled with care.

They had to hunt the whole herd of deer in one fell swoop, or everything would go to ruin. They adjusted their hunting strategy. For once they were going to do it, Ariadne's way, and the boy would just play support.

They hunted a few mountain lions in the morning and slept after eating. The night was reserved for carefully laying down a spiderweb over the short grass field that was closest to the water supply. Some nocturnal predators saw them, but the creators of this zone had learned that messing with the spider and her partner was a big pain in the rear.

Thankfully the deer had no Rank Twos so this was supposed to be easy. They waited for the herd to approach their trap and then got into position. Ciaran and Ariadne made it seem they were hunting for mountain lions again.

The herd had seen these two relentlessly go for mostly those cats, so they didn't think much of it. They were one of the biggest groups here, with a whole twenty-one members. Even the bears didn't bother them, so they hardly saw these two as treats.

That, as it turned out was a big mistake, when the dear had started munching on the grass, the webs insult them. It would not be enough to keep them in place for long, but all the webs were coated with paralyzing powder.

The deer dropped to the ground and the two hunters brought them to their hideout. They could only get fourteen before other preditors came to steal from them.

"You can have them, we got enough for the whole week." The boy shouted and laughed menacingly. Ari had the urge to whack him but managed to contain it.

When they got home, they dragged their new guests to the entrance nearest the water source. Then the boy cut them open and filled them with all kinds of poison, mushroom mush, and even some explosives.

The deer felt horrible pain take over their bodies. And they heard the monster whisper.

"Get to the water and I will make the pain stop. Fail me, and you still have months of life left in you." Then he let them go.

The deer could barely walk at first, and then the paralyzers, which also acted as anesthesia, wore off. They ran towards the water. They looked healthy on the outside, energetic even. Most creatures in the safe area only thought they had escaped a predator and were thirsty.

"Rest in pieces," Ciaran said as he shot a makeshift slingshot at the deer that were pushing each other for a drop of water. Their mouths were burning, and their insides were melting.

The next moment the explosive projectile caused a chain reaction, and all of the remaining herd exploded.

The spring was damaged and the water was contaminated. One second there was stunned silence, and the next, chaos ensued. The boy and the spider went into hiding, as they positioned themselves near the entrance that was overlooking the hawks. Now, they wait.