Chapter 103: Stampede

Maeve fiddled with her cloak as she tried to cover her face from the harsh sun. The cloak’s fabric was weaved from a special thick wool that blocked sunlight, a useful garment for any vampire, not to mention expensive. Such luxury clothes were usually etched with a family’s crest, Maeve’s were no different. Which is why she left her cloak back in the city, lest she attract attention.

It was already difficult enough to escape her maids the past few mornings she had been in Mellow Bloom, she did not want to give them any clear evidence that she was spending time with Nora.

Clypeus had been kind enough to lend Maeve one of his own cloaks. While Maeve did not mind wearing the honorable House Gale’s crest on her back, it annoyed her that the cloak was too long. Clypeus was a little over 6 feet tall, while she was barely 5 feet. The cloak dragged beneath her feet and the hood blocked half her face, blinding her from everything but her saddle.

She kept trying to adjust the cloak to no avail. “Dammit,” she muttered.

“Are you okay?” Nora smiled softly.

“Of course, I am. I always travel to the middle of nowhere to actively hunt a man-eating predator,” Maeve glared at her, but the cloak blocked her angry expression.

Nora scratched her nose, “Yeah, about that. I know you probably didn’t expect to be hunting a seregulus when I asked you to hang out with me today. But, I really am grateful you finally came to visit my hometown. By the way, I meant are you okay after last night?”

“What? Are you talking about that Stryg guy?”

“I am,” Nora nodded. “I don’t know where you two met, but I know enough about Stryg. There are rumors swirling about him at school. They say he’s from a sylvan tribe in Vulture Woods and that he’s ruthless to all that cross his path. I even heard that he eats the hearts of his enemies. I may have not seen him eat anyone, but I once saw him bite a classmate during sparring. Stryg ripped a chunk of the guy’s shoulder off.”

“Gods, that sounds horrible,” Maeve winced.

“Yeah, it was, but the guy deserved it. He had groped this dwarf girl’s butt during class. The dwarf was about to fight him, but Stryg beat her to it. That’s my point, Stryg can be very impulsive and vindictive. Last night was just more proof of that. Believe me, it’s alright if you’re not okay. You can talk to me.”

“Look, I’m fine. The white mage we went to last night healed me up without a hitch. If I were you I wouldn’t worry about some crazy savage and instead focus on the damn monster hunt you dragged us to. We’re literally surrounded by tall grass and a bunch of bushes, seregulusi could pop out at any moment.”

“It’ll be fine,” Nora chuckled. “We’re still quite a few miles away from where they were spotted last night. Besides, look around us, I brought my family’s guards.”

Maeve glanced at the dozen mounted soldiers surrounding them. Each of them had the image of a blue bellflower emblazoned on their chest plates, the crest of House Azol.

“A few of them are magi, too. Plus, you’ve got me, your blue mage best friend to look after you,” Nora smirked.

“Yeah, aren’t you only a first-year?” Maeve raised an eyebrow.

“I already finished my first year at the academy,” Nora pouted.

“That’s so much better,” she rolled her eyes.

“Okay, Miss Cynic, Cly will be looking after you too, and he’s a swordmaster. He’s all die-hard about protecting you Veres vampires, you’ll be fine.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I respect the dedication of Clypeus and House Gale, but first of all, I’m not an actual Veres. And second of all, Clypeus is still technically a novice mage.”

“Don’t underestimate Cly, he’s far more powerful than any of my classmates, well, except for Stryg, though I bet Cly could still beat him. But, if Cly still isn’t good enough for you, his older sister, Gale, is joining us, too.”

“Wait, are you serious? I’ve never gotten a chance to meet her, but I’ve heard so much about her! She’s one of the youngest high-master magi in all of Hollow Shade. I heard she even once dueled the genius Loh Noir herself and still managed to hold her own!” Maeve gushed excitedly.

“I sometimes forget how much aristocrats gossip,” Nora pursed her lips and shook her head.

“Oh please, everyone loves watching mage duels. You and I used to talk about magi all the time. Just because you’re a mageborn now, don’t think you’re better than the rest of us,” Maeve crossed her arms.

“I’d never think that,” Nora raised her hands in surrender. “Don’t get me wrong, magic is amazing. It’s just that you start seeing things a little differently when you start actually spellcasting. You start realizing how dangerous it can be, especially to yourself.”

“It can’t be as bad as the one getting attacked by your magic.”

“You’d be surprised.”

“I’d still take my chances if I were in your shoes.”

“Meh, fair point,” Nora shrugged. She looked up at the top of the nearby hill. “Hey, you hear something?”

“You mean the faint sound of hooves? You do realize I have better hearing than humans, right?” Maeve smirked. For some reason the cadence of hooves sounded somewhat familiar.

“Yeah, whatever. Some centaur must be dancing around up there, probably Cly’s.”

“But isn’t Clypeus’ centaur right next to us?”

The rumbling grew louder and louder until it sounded like a storm thundering throughout the sky.

Maeve’s face paled as she recognized the sound. “It can’t be... Nora, we have to run, now!”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” She frowned.

The earth shook, the tall grass shivered in waves. Hundreds of root-bison poured out above the hill and charged down towards them.

“Stampede!” One of the guards yelled.

The centaurs panicked and tried to outrun the root-bison, but the bison herd was too fast, the hill’s slope quickening their rampage. One of the magi guards raised her hands and traced red arcane symbols in the air. A crimson ward wall appeared around the group.

The wall shook as the first root-bisons slammed into it. The wards cracked as more and more root bison knocked into the wall from all sides.

The red mage’s arms trembled, “I can’t hold it!”

Nora gripped Maeve’s hand and smiled shakily, “It’ll be okay.”

The wards shattered, the root-bison broke through. One bison charged straight at Maeve. Nora cast a torrent spell and created a sphere of water above her head. She blasted it straight down on the creature. The bison slammed into ground and tipped over, its hind legs smacked Maeve off her centaur.

Maeve hit the ground with a soft thud. She looked up in time to see Nora be swept away by the rest of root-bison.

“Nora!” She screamed.

The bison ran all around Maeve, the sounds of hooves drowning out her screams. The bison that Nora had attacked tried to rise but kept being driven deeper into the ground by its kin. The dying bison became a barrier for Maeve, blocking the other frenzied creatures.

Maeve’s centaur stood up only to be pierced by the horns of a charging bison. The centaur yelled in pain before she was struck down by another bison. Maeve watched in horror as the centaur was pummeled to a bloody paste by the onslaught of glowing hooves. Maeve curled and tried to make herself as small as possible, hoping the raging bison would miss her.

Maeve did not know how long she hid behind the downed bison. It seemed like an eternity before the stampede of root-bison passed through. The trampled grass began to glow a soft yellow from the root-bison’s lingering life magic. After a few moments the tall grass lifted back up to their original height, hiding the carnage left behind. Only small flecks of blood staining the grass were left as evidence of the herd’s passing.

“N-nora?” Maeve called out softly.

Her throat felt tight. This could not be happening.

“Please, Bellum, please, let this be a dream,” she prayed softly to her patron goddess.

Maeve pushed herself to her feet. Her legs felt stiff. She wiped away her tears and dragged her feet away from the centaur and bison corpses.

“Nora? Nora? Anyone!?” Maeve shouted in panic.

A bush at the edge of her vision shook.

“Nora, is that you? Please, answer me,” she cried out hoarsely.

She pushed her way through the tall grass and past the bush. She froze, her heart dropped. Maeve’s eyes widened in terror at the sight in front of her.

A black seregulus sat atop a dying root-bison. The creature's paws gripped the bison tightly. Its long scaled tail wrapped around the bison’s legs, preventing the bison’s last attempt at escape.

Two large puncture wounds were staked at the bison’s neck. The seregulus’ venom had already burned through the bison’s veins and was slowly, but surely and painfully killing it. The root-bison groaned weakly, it’s brown eyes watched the terror-stricken vampiress hidden amidst the bush. A tear trickled down the bison’s eye, the soft golden lights of its eyes disappeared.

The seregulus tore out the bison’s flesh with sharp golden claws. Its fangs sank into the bison’s chest and ripped apart muscle and sinew with ease. Maeve could hear the bison’s bones crack beneath the seregulus’ jaw.

Maeve needed to move, she needed to run away. She tried taking a step back, her foot caught on the hem of her cloak. She tripped over, the hood falling on her head, obscuring her sight.

The seregulus’ feline head swerved up, it’s jade-green eyes locking onto their new prey. All Maeve saw were two black paws step in front of her. A shiver ran down her spine.

There was no way she could outrun this beast. She was going to die here. This was her end, yet for once in her life she was not afraid in the face of a monster. She only felt relief.

It seemed only fitting that fate would send a monster to end her own monstrous existence. She had done so many wrongs, hurt too many people. Bellum would not spare her life today. A soft voice echoed in the distance. Maeve closed her eyes, nothing mattered anymore. At last she would be freed from her father’s influence.

~~~

Stryg was riding next to Clypeus when he heard it.

He looked up at the noise, “Root-bison, a lot of them. They are coming this way.”

“What? Root-bison don’t wander near large settlements or small ones for that matter,” Clypeus frowned.

Stryg ignored him and closed his eyes in concentration. “It’s getting louder. Too fast. There’s too many, too quickly.”

“What are you saying?”

“They’re running,” Rhian’s eyes widened.

Clypeus took a moment to absorb the information. He cupped his hands together and screamed, “Stampede! Root-bison stampede!”

The other hunters looked at each other in alarm. None of them had centaurs with them. The commoners looked at Stryg and Rhian with a crazy light in their eyes.

“Not today,” Stryg tugged on Rhian’s reins.

She understood immediately and ran away.

“Aw, come on, don’t leave me too!” Clypeus yelled.

The vampire could finally hear the thundering stampede approaching. He kneeled and stuck his hands into the dirt. He channeled green mana though his arms and into the earth around him. The grass gave way as the ground rose up and formed a wall in front of him. The other hunters huddled with him behind the wall.

Clypeus released the stone spell and switched to yellow mana. He cast a durability spell all over his body, yellow scales formed around his skin. He hoped it would be enough to endure the stampede.

~~~

Rhian kept running without looking back. Stryg noticed something was off.

“Rhian, are you slower than before?”

“What? Of course not. I only ran up a tall steep hill like two minutes ago, carrying about 400 pounds, most of which is my rider. How could I be getting slower? It’s not like I’m a bit tired,” she huffed.

“I thought the best didn’t get tired.”

“In your dreams, maybe. Just give me a few minutes, I’ll be faster by then.”

“We don’t have that time,” Stryg looked behind him. “Rhian run!”

The stampede rushed towards them.

“Ah, shit!” She shouted.

Rhian pushed her legs onwards and tried ignoring the burning pain in her lungs.

“Faster! They’re catching up! Run, Rhian, run, ru-eis! Coureis! Coureis, Coureis!”

Rhian’s ears twitched at Stryg’s voice. The sounds of the stampede faded away. The world seemed to grow small, all that mattered was escaping the bison herd. They needed to survive, Stryg needed to survive.

Her muscles tightened, strength flooded through her veins. She grit her teeth and surged forward. The root-bison bellowed in anger as they tried to overtake them, but Rhian stayed ahead, her legs galloping through the sea of grass in a blur of black and blue.

The ground rumbled. Another herd gushed over from the hill above them. Several dire root-bison led the charge. There was no escape, Rhian would be blocked off from both sides and they would be crushed in between the herds. She made up her mind in an instant.

“We go up!” She shouted out in cold determination.

“Seu, kevlos!? Rhian, kevlos!” Stryg screamed.

She pulled out her lance and sprinted straight into the frontline of dire bison. One dire beast lowered its head and aimed its horns at Rhian’s soft underbelly. She waited until the creature was close, its horns practically touching her. Rhian jumped, ramming her hooves into the bison’s face. She kicked off the creature’s head and trampled over the beast’s enormous body.

Rhian jumped off the back end of the bison and pushed forward. She needed to reach the top of the hill, past the downwards momentum of the herd. She sank her lance into a bison that tried ramming them. Stryg stabbed his spear into one that came from her flank.

Another dire bison appeared from amidst the herd. It roared in anger and bolted right at them. Rhian did not have enough space to dodge. As the dire bison attacked, she threw herself to the side, scraping right past the charge.

“Rhian!”

She looked up to see Stryg being dragged away, his cloak catching on the dire bison’s horn.

“Master!” Rhian screeched.