4.12

August slowly increased his speed as they watched.

“Truly?” Rittan said, surprised. “That is far simpler than I expected.”

“I don’t know about you magic guys,” August said, “But my ancestors figured this out when they were still playing with sticks—had to be simple for that to happen.”

Kalter moved her fingers at a glacial pace, practically glaring at her hands. Her concentration was as clear as day, and for a moment, August was sure the slowly growing twine would combust into flames. Rittan, on the other hand, seemed far less worried, tugging at it a few times to test the small section he’d made.

“It doesn’t feel very strong,” Rittan admitted, “It’s also not long enough to do much of anything with—how did you make the bowstring so long?”

August nodded, pulling a second narrow leaf from his pile. He prepared it in the same manner as before, rolled it along his leg, and then held it up to show them. August placed the end of the new leave against one of the two strands from the first before twisting them together and continuing the previous process.

“The compression from the twisting will keep it locked in,” August said, “I think it’s better if you leave one side longer than the other, though, so the new joins aren’t right next to each other.”

“Do that part again,” Kalter demanded, frowning at his hands.

August untwisted it before repeating the demonstration once more. Kalter reached over with two of her arms and started preparing another piece, and when she paused, he repeated it a third time. Kalter managed it, increasing the length of her own piece. Rittan scratched his cheek as his own piece stuck out oddly at the join.

“Is it supposed to stick out like this?” Rittan wondered. “Can I cut it off?”

“Yeah, cut it off if you want.” August nodded. “The goal here is to make a stack of twine, probably about a meter long each? Then twine those together in pairs; that way, it should be strong enough to at least hold the logs together.”

“A second layer,” Rittan repeated his earlier words in understanding. “We will also need to start digging holes for the logs; otherwise, they are unlikely to stay upright for long.”

“I was thinking about that earlier,” August admitted.

“Why are you building a palisade?” Kalter said, frowning.

August waited for Rittan to answer, but when he didn’t, August looked up. Rittan had clearly heard the question but was letting it hang. August sighed before taking the cue to speak up in his place—so awkward.

“There are monsters in the lake; they’re called [Mitikos],” August said, eventually. “They come out onto the beach at night and move around.”

“This is not a good place for a camp,” Kalter said flatly.

“If you know of a better place, feel free to speak up,” August offered. “The forest has [Efkini], like Ladybug here. Over the ridge, there is a massive field, and it’s filled with [Otrogon]. This place has food, freshwater, and access to abundant materials.”

“Those words mean nothing to me,” Kalter frowned. “What is a Mitikos?”

August pinched the twine to stop it from unravelling and then sat up straighter in an attempt to fix his posture. There was a small twinge in his chest, but it was almost gone now.

“[Mitikos] look like,” August floundered for a moment, “Giant Ants? Crabs? They retract into their carapace and seem to have spiky limbs. They spend most of their time underwater.”

August spliced in the next narrow leaf and continued.

“The one we are most worried about was the size of an MMP,” Rittan said seriously, “That’s when it was still hiding within its carapace—I managed to hunt a small one, the size of my palm, with a wooden spear—I suggest you do not go swimming any deeper than waist level.”

“A palisade wouldn’t stop something that large—Is it alone?” Kalter said, frowning. “We could lure it out, use the forest to restrict its lateral movement. If you were capable of injuring a nubile one with a wooden spear, we should be able to kill it. How fast do they move on land?”

August glanced over at her; Kalter’s first instinct was to attack the threat, wholely different from their idea of defence and avoidance. He was also curious about whatever this ‘MMP’ was, but he could wait until the current discussion had finished.

“I don’t think it is alone, given how many of them are in the shallows,” Rittan said seriously, “The one I injured was attempting to crawl around, but it seemed quite slow. I’m not sure if that was a result of the injury or if they aren’t very mobile on land.”

“You’ve been here for how long?” Kalter said, looking at August.

“This is day four,” August said. “It’s not like the only threat is the big one either; there are plenty of smaller ones that a palisade would keep out.”

“We were planning on surrounding the camp.” Rittan admitted, “If one of the larger ones attack, we would hear them coming.”

“Hear them coming.” Kalter repeated, “What would you do with that information?”

“Flee,” Rittan said. “I don’t think a wooden spear would be enough to kill such a creature.”

“Running away doesn’t solve the problem,” Kalter frowned, jerking her head at August. “He said it already—this island is filled with other threats; we would be simply running from this one to another.”

“Then what do we do?” August said, watching her.

“We build weapons and traps,” Kalter said, “Then we lure it out of the water and kill it.”

“You want to fight the giant monster,” August said blandly. “Brilliant.”

“August,” Rittan chastised.

“What?” August demanded. “Does she, or does she not want to fight the giant monster?”

“It is the best plan,” Kalter said, glaring at him.

“No, it’s not,” August huffed. “The best plan would be building weapons, traps and a palisade.”