Chapter 14: Here There Be Monsters

With Lady’s Port well in hand and my enchanter on the way, next I needed to procure raw materials.

The original communication mirrors that had proved so vital in taking out the adventurers build had been…sidelined in lieu of setting up my powerbase. The original pair had eventually wore out and broke, as fitting for a rush job.

This time, since I had the time, I’d be building a much more comprehensive infrastructure.

I smiled at the thought, looking over at Rel. We stood at the end of the main road, at the edge of the street lights. Light, hours before dawn, available to everyone.

Once, I’d promised to show a young woman the internet.

It might be the best choice I’ve ever made.

Rel noticed my gaze. “I am at your disposal, Mistress.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.” I tossed my head. “Now, do we have everyone ready?”

“Yes, Mistress.” Rel stepped to the side, gesturing to a few men and woman who’s volunteered for this mission. They all had the soldier class, and Electra had taken to calling them our ‘Regulars’. The name fit. There were plenty of people in this world who had a taste for violence.

How fitting then, that we had need of them.

“This is first squad,” Rel said. “Sargent Tervis is in charge of them.”

“Sarge.” I grasped the man’s hand, and he dipped his head in respect.

“Honor to help, my lady.”

I waved hand. “Save the niceties, today, we’ve got work to do.”

I got answering grins from the crowd of regulars. They were all on the younger side, maybe even all younger than me. Teens and fresh faced adults eager to make their marks on the world. But Electra had assured me that this batch was made up of her best, and that they were loyal.

“Maybe too loyal,” she’d said.

Please, as if anyone could be too loyal to me.

“This morning,” I said. “We’re going to be hunting hummingbirds.”

That got me a ring of shocked faces.

I’d been rather unsurprised to learn that hummingbird glades, that is the circles of poisonous flowers filled with venomous birds that flew faster than the eye could see, were a well known danger of the jungles. So well known, in fact, that no one thought to inform Electra or I of the danger we were walking into the first time we went to collect some feathers.

Go figure.

“There’s a reason we’re doing this right now.” I waved a hand at the sky. No one wanted to go tromping through the jungle at night, after all. “At this time, most of the biggest monsters will already have returned to their dens. Our goal is not to fight them right now. Rather, our goal is to take advantage of a peculiar trait of hummingbirds.” I grinned. “Tell me, does anyone wonder how something so small can fly so devilishly fast?”

My men exchanged confused glances. After a moment, one of them raised a hand. “Yes, what’s you’re name, private.”

“Llen, My Lady!” He snapped off a salute. My grin widened, and I waved at them to continue. “Is it magic, ma’am?”

“No.” I slashed my hand through the air. “There’s some good old biology at play, you see. They move fast because they live fast. They’re constantly burning energy.” Parts of this was bound to be different between worlds, but also, I imagine that blood of magical beasts was even more energy intensive than nectar. “They have to eat constantly, whether from the flowers that makes them so deadly, or the other victims of the glade. If they stop eating, their body will start starving to death in less than an hour.”

Llen blinked at that, before frowning. “Then…how do they sleep, ma’am?”

“That’s the trick.” I grinned, pulling out a an enchanted glowstone. “At night, they go into a state that’s more like suspended animation. In this situation, not only are they dead to the world around them, but they can take several minutes to wake back up again. A process that will leave them slow and groggy if they have to do it unexpectedly.”

AT that, I saw a look of comprehension flickering across Llen’s face. “We’ll hit em when they’re asleep!”

I snapped my fingers. “Exactly.”

And that was why I wasn’t brining Electra along this time.

Well, that, and she’d expressed rather strongly that if I ever brought her hummingbird hunting again, she’d throw me into the glade.

“What about the poisonous flowers?” A young woman with sooty black hair asked. “Private Haxes, ma’am!”

“Good question.” I nodded towards their shoes. “That’s why you all got new boots. It’s actually a question that people around here have had the answer to for a very long time.”

“We… have?” Llen asked.

“The poison from the flowers doesn’t rise very high. And while it irritates the skin, unless it gets into your lungs—” or your blood, you know, after the hummingbirds pecked you open “—it just irritates the skin. You should all have simple cloth masks.” I lifted my own. “Dip it in water and it will be annoying as sin to breath through, but it will also protect you from the poison. One of the gatherers from a nearby village used this trick to harvest other herbs from the edge of the grove.”

“Crazy…” Llen grinned. “That’s nuts!”

He was an adrenalin junky type, huh? I could use more of those.

I nodded. “We’ve brought together the skills and the knowledge to make it happen. What I contributed is no more or less important than any other piece, it just so happens to be the last.” I grinned. “So, who wants to hunt a hummingbird.”

The squad punched the air as one. “OOS!”

I raised my eyebrow at that. I guess every military, no matter how small, needed a chant.

“Let’s move then.” I turned toward the recently disassembled palisade. “We’re moving fast and quiet through the jungle. My demons will scout ahead, but be ready.” I glanced over my shoulder. “There are more monsters than just mine, running through those trees.”

With that, I led the way from Lady’s Port, out into the darkness.

It was, I’ll admit, mostly a symbolic gesture. I let Llen take point once we hit the tree line. Leader or not, demons or not, these people knew the jungle better than I did. And we were navigating it at night.

Rel fell in step behind me, a pair of her knives already in hand. I felt better, knowing that she was at my back.

Once we were in motion, the regulars were much less relaxed. They stayed quiet, using their own glowstones a little as possible. My own demons raced ahead on quiet wings, a new strand I’d discovered called blightbats. I could tell that I lost several of during scouting, but that just let me point our group away from dangerous encounters.

I wasn’t in a hurry to confront whatever real monsters that lurked out in the shadows.

Of course, real life is rarely so kind.

“Stop!” Everyone froze at my sharp hiss. A moment later, a blightbat darted out of the gloom, landing on my raised arm.

It was an ugly thing, in the way most demons were, with two pairs of tattered wings that looked far to small to bear its lumpy naked mole rat looking body. It squeeked once, flapping its top pair of wings rapidly.

They were still smarter than hobblefiends.

I cursed softly, before casting the bat back off into the night. “Something big, coming right this way. It’s not letting itself get distracted.”

Sargent Tervis responded quickly. “This way, out of its path.” We immediately changed direction. “Llen, how far’s the river?”

“Shouldn’t be far.”

“Then let’s pick up the pace.”

I fell in step with the rest of them, holding back a grumble at once again being the shortest person running for my life. Why did it always happen to me.

At least this time I was much more in shape, not that it helped much in the darkness.

Rel was the only thing stopping me from taking a nasty fall. After the third time it happened, I caught her hand with my own and gave it a squeeze.

There wasn’t time for anything more than that.

By the time we could feel the vibrations in the ground, we were all running at a full sprint through the darkness. I slammed into more trees than I dodged, only catching sight of the river by the moon’s reflection on it’s surface.

Fortunately for me, there was a demon for this situation, and I already had a bunch of them.

“Keep running!” I shouted. “Jump right before you hit the water!”

Then I took my own advice.

Half a dozen blightbats swooped out of the darkness, grabbing me by my arms. Even as they carried me over the river, I summoned up another group.

My mana dropped precipitously.

It was enough to get us all to the other side of the river.

There, Sargent Tervis called a halt. “We’re not going to outrun it if the thing decides to cross,” he said. “This is the best place to fight it as ever.”

“I’m out of mana.” I pushed myself to my feet. “The bats will help buy time, but it will be a while before I can wind up for any big spells.”

He nodded grimly, and then the regulars got into position on the bank of the river.

As always, Rel stood at my back, ready to protect me.

I quirked my lip. I could always have just summoned a gryphon, but they were expensive. It would be enough for Rel and I, and maybe two others. The blightbats weren’t enough for long distances.

Instead, I dismissed several of my bats, forming a handful of hobblefiends that trundled to the front of the formation. If nothing else, maybe they’d help break a charge.

Then across the river, a massive shape broke out of the tree line, and I realized that they really, really wouldn’t.

The monster dug it’s massive claws into the far shore, carving gouges in the earth. It reared up, spines rippling across its back, and roared.

I flinched back at the sound.

Even in the darkness, I could see light glinting in’s too large eyes.

“Well,” I found myself saying. “At least it only has two eyes this time.”

Dimly, I registered someone out of the corner of my eye looking at me with concern. Ah, that would be Rel.

Reaching out, I grasped her hand again. Maybe I really should have just run away.

Then the giant, hulking, spined monstrosity took one last huff, slitted nostrils flaring. It turned slamming it’s tail into the riverbank, once, twice. Like it was forming a line.

Then it moved back into the shadows of the jungle, barely rustling the trees.

I took a deep breath, before letting go of Rel’s hand and stepping forwards to, ah, rally the troops.

“Sargent Travis,” I said.

He turned towards me, face pale. “Yes, ma’am?”

“You still have the map of glade locations?”

He nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Excellent.” I tapped a finger against my chin. “I think, that we shall go looking for one on this side of the river, instead.”

He swallowed. “That sounds like an excellent idea.”