“I’m so bored….”

  It had been nearly two weeks since the group decided to settle along the river. Xeeta had done an incredible job carving out a defensible living space into the cliffside. And the rest of the residents had been hard at work trying to furnish them with at least the basics. Turns out a few of the dragonewts were half-decent carpenters.

  A handful of the escaped contracted, especially Alice, were good at handicrafts. Mostly trying to fix up damaged clothing. Alice was a master with needle and thread. Add on her skills helping Farren with administrative work, and Ves could only assume she used to be an experienced servant to some noble.

  Ves had also continued to try and help, due to her own background as a servant, she had the knowledge and skills. Unfortunately, her new arm would just get in the way. Trying to sew with razor blades for fingers continued to prove a challenge.

  She already learned the hard way that she was terrible at hunting and would just get in Ryuko’s way. The rather unpleasant incident with the monster-horned bear had proven that. So, she was relegated to being the guard for the village when she wasn’t helping cut trees or doing other heavy lifting. Despite her appearance, she was likely the strongest of the group in pure physical strength.

  More frustrating than any of that was her soul rank. She reached Amber without a blessing. The problem was that she reached it without learning how to cultivate. Her soul had grown stronger, but she had no idea how to use it. Yujiro and Xeeta’s explanations left her even more lost. If she wanted to go any further, she had to visit a temple and get a proper blessing, teaching her the first steps if such a thing was even possible with her brand. Which left her in her current state, bored and lounging in one of the few trees they left up around the vicinity. That’s when Ryuko entered view, hurrying towards camp with a concerning look.

  Ves jumped from the tree and jogged over. “What’s wrong?”

  Ryuko glanced at Ves. “Spotted a group of armed men in the forest.”

  “Did they see you?”

  Ryuko looked worried as she explained, “No, but it looks like they are on our trail from the slavers' base. I need to speak to Elder Setsu and warn everyone.”

  On their way inside, they passed Hiroko.

  “Hiroko, have you seen Elder Setsu?” Ryuko asked.

  “She is in the common room,” he replied, “Ryuko, I don’t like that look, what’s wrong?”

  “Armed men, likely slavers,” she said.

  Hiroko grimaced, “Shit, how long?”

  “If we are lucky, they won’t arrive until dusk”. Ryuko said as she hurried inside.

  “I’ll start getting everyone inside and get defenses in place.” After saying that, Hirko ran off to prepare.

  Ves and Ryuko left down the hall as they could hear Hiroko shouting out orders. After a few moments, they made their way to the common room, and upon seeing them, Setsu gestured them over. “Ryuko, what is wrong. I can hear a commotion?”

  “Armed men, best I can tell, they are following our trail from the slaver’s camp,” Ryuko answered promptly. Most of the time, Ryuko came across as a bit of a shy airhead to Ves, but this was a new side to her.

  “Hostile?” Setsu asked.

  “I think they are more slavers.”, Ryuko responded.

  “Can we run?” Ves asked.

  “Nowhere to run to, they can outpace us anyway. Along with too few fighters relative to the numbers we need to protect. On open ground, it would be easy for them to take hostages.” Ryuko answered.

  Ves took a deep breath to steady herself. “Make a stand, it is”.

  Setsu looked towards Ryuko, “How long?”

  “I told Hiroko dusk, maybe a little sooner. I don’t think they know that we know they are on our trail. May buy us time if they take it slow and quiet, trying to catch us unaware,” Ryuko said.

  “How many?” Setsu asked.

  “It looks like a smaller group, around ten. The problem is they have a gnoll with them,” said Ryuko.

  “What tribe?”

  “I didn’t risk getting too close, but far as I can tell, scale hunter”.

  “Scale hunter? How sure are you?” Setsu asked.

  “Better than even odds, he also looked strong. The way he moved a body cultivator without a doubt. Likely a strong one.”

  “I hate to interrupt, but I’m a bit lost. Why does it matter that they are a gnoll?” Ves asked. She was feeling a bit lost as to the severity of the situation.

  “Sorry, I forget this wouldn’t be common knowledge. Gnolls in general are an aggressive race, but that’s not to go so far as to say they can’t be reasoned with for most races,” explained Setsu.

  Ves could see Ryuko clench her fist in anger. “Reasonable?… they are worse than monsters….”

  “As I said, most races, Gnolls have a history of bad blood with dragons. The Scale hunters in particular are a ruthless and singularly focused lot. Basing their tribe’s entire culture around hunting draconic species. Due to the rarity and power of true dragons, dragonewts and lesser wyrms like wyverns or drakes became the common targets.”

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “How could the gnolls stand a chance?” Ves asked.

  “Poison, potent poisons that are effective against any species with draconic blood,” Ryuko explained.

  “Could we ask Xeeta to seal the entrances?”

  “Ryuko shook her head “Wouldn’t work, they could just wait us out or call for reinforcements. They could also find our air vents above the cliffside. Tossing in smoke bombs or simply covering them so we run out of air.”

  “Do we stand a chance?” Ves asked.

  “No… but our goal isn’t to win, it's to drive them off. Making them think we are not worth the effort. This forest is dangerous, if we bruise them enough, they may decide to retreat before they are too weak for the trip back.”

  “If we let them escape, won’t they just get reinforcements?” Ves asked.

  “Likely they would, but that would buy us enough time to escape safely,” Ryuko explained.

  Setsu looked Ves in the eyes. “Ves, Nell, I hate to ask this of you after you have already done so much, but…”

  Ves had a sinking pit in her stomach. What if they were here for her?

  “You were kind enough to take us in. We won’t abandon you now,” said Setsu.

  Ryuko stroked her chin as she stared at Ves in thought, “You may be able to catch them off guard and reduce their numbers quickly. If you conceal your arm, you don’t look that dangerous. Hiroko and Yujiro are also skilled enough to join you in the melee”.

  “The rest of us will provide ranged support from the battlements Xeeta carved. Only a few of us have bows strong enough to pierce their armor. But we have a handful of child bows used for training. They will still hurt enough to be a distraction at the very least.” Ryuko added.

  “We have a plan, spread the word and let us prepare”. Setsu ordered.

  The whole refuge was chaos as everyone prepared, thankfully, there was enough room for everyone inside the fortress.

  “They’re here,” Ryuko whispered to Ves.

  The sun was just dipping below the trees. Everyone hid out of sight, doing their best not to tip off any of the attackers. Most of the dragonewts and non-combatants were hiding deep inside the artificial caves Xeeta made. While anyone, even just ok with a bow, was ready to unleash a volley on the attackers.

  Vess could hear them outside but couldn’t make out what they were saying.

  “They are trying to decide what to do. They know we’re here, but they didn’t expect to run into fortifications like this in the middle of the forest. I think they are wary.” Ryuko commented.

  “Should I try to talk them out of it?” Ves asked.

  Ryuko stifled a laugh, “Won’t work, but you can try. My hope is we can scare them off before they realize most of our archers are harmless.”

  “Well, let’s get this started before they get too close,” Ves said while steeling her nerves to come out of hiding.

  “Be careful, Ves. Nell, please keep her from being too reckless.” Ryuko said with a look of worry.

  Ves’s expression shifted as Nell took over for a moment, smiling softly at Ryuko. “I’ll try.”

  Ves looked mildly embarrassed as she resumed control, “I’m not that bad…” she muttered to herself.

  Ryuko just gave her a look and gestured to the horned bear pelt Ves currently wore to conceal her right arm.

  “Point taken…”

  “Well, here goes,” Ves got up and walked outside in view of the men. Hiroko and Yujiro joined her, Yujiro armed with his new battle axe and Hiroko with two smaller axes. While Ryuko was also a strong body cultivator, it would be a waste to have her in the melee rather than up high with a bow.

  Seeing the dragonewts, the gnoll smiled, with a cruel, eager glint in his eyes. “So, are you the ones who attacked our base? I’ll let you know it was a pain in the ass to track you all the way here after you torched the place.”

  “Not sure what you’re talking about.” Ves lied.

  “Don’t play dumb with me. A large group isn’t going to be able to cover their tracks. The trail led straight here.”

  While they were talking, Ves could see one of the men giving her a strange look. She was wearing a shawl made from the horned bear, so they shouldn’t be able to see her inhuman features. After a moment, though the man’s eyes lit up as he leaned towards the gnoll, “I think that’s her. The Senator’s run away, description matches.”

  Ves bit her lip.

  The gnoll stepped forward. “Oh, is that true? Are you Berkandis’s naughty runaway?”

  In a whisper, Yujiro spoke, “You saved us, Ves. We won’t abandon you now.” Hiroko nodded in response.

  It was a comfort to hear those words, but Ves still knew most of the dragonewts had yet to accept her. This was her mess. She couldn’t drag others into it.

  In her own softest whisper, “Nell, I’m sorry.”

  ‘Do what you need to do.’

  “I’ll go with you quietly, just leave the others alone.”

  “Ves! What are you doing!” Hiroko yelled.

  Ves was terrified, but she also knew she might be able to escape later on as long as she concealed her strength. For now, she just wanted to get these men away from here.

  “Deal”

  Ves turned to Hiroko and shook her head, “This is my mess, I won’t drag the rest of you with me.”

  As Ves stepped forward, a few of the men ran over and tied a rope around her whole body, pinning her arms to her sides. Thankfully, the thick bear pelt still concealed her claw. While this would have been plenty to restrain the old her, she knew she could break out with ease as she was now.

  As the men started to lead Ves off to the side, the gnoll shouted, “Alright, men, bonus secure now get in there and find our target!”

  Ves stopped in her tracks and turned to the gnoll, “You said we had a deal!”

  “I lied, you’re not even our real target, just a nice bonus.” The gnoll laughed, before his face turned suddenly cold, a simmering anger behind his eyes, “Besides, I think you owe us some payback. We saw what you did to the others. Locked them up and left them to burn alive.”

  “They were slavers, they deserved it.” Ves taunted.

  The gnoll looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel from anger before calming himself, “Life isn’t so kind that everyone gets a choice if they want to survive.” Turning back to his men, he shouted. “Aside the Voss, I don’t care what happens to the rest. Let’s make an example of these bastards.” Cheers erupted from the men as they began to close in.

  “You fucking bastard!” Ves shouted as she fought against her restraints. The men holding her down glanced down at her wide-eyed. She was slowly overpowering them.

  “Stay down! Stop resisting!” One of them shouted. Hearing the commotion, the gnoll turned around just in time to see Ves tear free from her restraints.

  “How the void di-” one of the men started to speak before Ves clawed his throat out before spinning around to disembowel the second man.

  Seeing this as her only chance, Ves bolted through the slavers, shoving down several men who tried to stop her. As soon as she reached Hiroko and Yujiro, she heard a shout, “Fire,” as a salvo of arrows whistled over Ves’s head directly at the attackers.

  Most bounced off, while they looked painful, they would bruise or leave a shallow cut at worst. A few though, likely from Ryuko, struck true as one man fell to his knees, clutching at the arrow lodged in his chest. A few others, while not dead, looked wounded enough to require them to fall back.

  They had already culled the slavers' numbers in half. Ves was starting to feel like they had a chance. Then, as if jinxing herself, the tide of battle shifted.

  “Enough of this,” the gnoll raised his arm in the air and howled. Ves could feel mana projecting out from the gnoll as the air began to shift, and a vortex of air surrounded the area, trapping Ves and Yujiro inside with the attackers. Hiroko had just barely been out of range.

  Any arrows that hit the shield splintered or were thrown off course. While Ryuko’s arrows could still break through with force, the wind pushed them too far off course to matter. Hiroko, for his efforts, was trying to force his way inside only to be continually rebuffed and sliced by the shield of wind.

  “I don’t know what the hell you are, but you killed my men. So, fuck the bounty, you’re going to pay.”