The Lupusi Nopea brought us outside after feeding us a surprisingly good breakfast. Of course I had a hand in making said breakfast so naturally it turned out well. I mean sure I had trouble breaking open the eggs initially but that’s just because we don’t have eggs that big where I’m from, and besides I’ve never cooked before in my life, I’m just naturally talented at everything I try.

Once outside he had he sat down and started to meditate, which left Rufus and I with nothing to do, so we both ended up sitting down leaning up against the house. After maybe ten minutes of meditation he had Rufus come over and began to heal the remaining injuries Rufus had sustained protecting me. Then he had me come over and after physically examining the scarred over cut on my hand he began sending his mana through my body. It honestly felt amazing, it was cool and refreshing, almost like having cool water injected directly into your veins on a hot summer day. Then he had us both get up and got us to start stretching, an activity I naturally disdained but when you are a captive it’s wise to comply with simple requests, so Rufus and I stretched.

Then he made us start to run, and when I say run I mean run, not jog, or trot, or sprint, but run. We had to go at the kind of pace you are supposed to be able to keep up for miles, but most people can only handle for a couple of minutes before they start to get tired. I am not most people, I lasted a solid 8 minutes before the pace started to get to me. After 12 minutes I stopped noticing my surroundings. At twenty minutes of running at the blistering pace he set I started dry heaving which seemed to make the beast slow down.

He slowed to a walking pace and looked back at Rufus and I. It was like he was checking to see how much I had left to give and comparing it to Rufus. He snorted then before I could finish regaining my breath, but after I stopped almost throwing up, he picked me up and slung me onto his back. Then he started running again, only this time it was even faster than before. Rufus kept up though I could see he was struggling. We quickly arrived at river and he proceeded north along the bank of the river.

Now that my stomach had settled I could see that the countryside we were in was beautiful, the water in the river glistened and sparkled in the sunlight, it was so inviting and I was so thirsty. I tapped the Lupusi on the shoulder and when I had his attention I mimed getting a drink of water. He snorted again and said something that I almost understood. From the context I gathered it was either no or later, since he continued along to river, neither stopping nor slowing down. By my estimate of our speed and how long we had been running we’d probably gone over 5 miles at this point, yet even after carrying me for the last mile and a half the Lupusi showed no signs of slowing down or needing a break. Rufus on the other had was sweating rivers, his cheeks were flushed and his breathing was heavy and labored. I think the only thing keeping him going at this point was pride. He just didn’t want to admit that Nopea could run him into the ground so he kept pushing his limits.

By the time we had hit what I think was six miles in under 35 minutes Rufus was gasping for air and was starting to fall behind. I tapped the Lupusi on the shoulder and pointed back at Rufus, who had fallen at least 100 feet behind. He grunted something and slowed to a stop. He set me down back on the ground and I almost collapsed. Apparently my legs had fallen asleep from being carried for so long. By the time Rufus caught up to us he was gasping for breath, my legs had regained feeling and I’d had the chance to check out our surroundings.

We were still next to the river, the opposite side of the bank was covered in trees and there was a lot of flatland to the east. We were currently on a rather crude road, it had deep ruts from all of the wagon traffic and was cleared of all vegetation. When Rufus arrived he pointed at the river, which I took to mean that we could get a drink. I helped Rufus down to the river and we slaked our thirst with the cool clean water. Heaven dripped down my throat as the soothing water filled my stomach. I wanted to drink until I burst, but Nopea stopped me before I could do more than drink a few mouthfuls.

I glared up at the beast as he stopped me from drinking anymore, and I would have complained but Rufus spoke up before I could say anything. “That one just saved you from a sore stomach. I doubt he is done with us and if you drink too much now, you will surely be throwing it back up the next time he forces us to move.”

Rufus’ statement brought me up short and I looked between the two of them. The Lupusi nodded as if agreeing with Rufus, and then once again indicated we should follow him only this time he growled out a single word in that strange language I could almost understand, “Seguir.” Then he started jogging north again. Rufus having caught his breath began to follow at the reduced pace the Lupusi set and I started jogging as well. We moved at that lower speed for maybe ten minutes before we came upon a small farm. The inhabitants were out in the fields tilling the soil in preparation for the next planting season. It was a perfectly normal fall scene, except the tillers of the soil happened to be a group of giant Bovem. The biggest of which was at least eight feet tall with horns sprouting from his head that could have gored their way through both Rufus and I at the same time. The beast was massive and while his expression lit up upon seeing Nopea, it quickly darkened when he noticed Rufus and I.

The Bovem started advancing toward us when Nopea got in his way, he said something in that guttural language that I couldn’t make heads or tails of and the Bovem seemed to calm down slightly. He indicated that we should approach the giant and while I felt some trepidation I didn’t let that stop me from approaching. When we got close enough Nopea seemed to introduce us he said what I imagine was the giant’s name then pointed at me and looked expectant, so I spoke up, “Lucius Uerius.” Then he pointed at Rufus who said, “Rufus Ira.” The giants name by the way was something like “Tukeva” and the others that were introduced we, “Alistuva, Urhea, and Pelko” I did my best to remember the names, because frankly they didn’t seem like the forgiving sort. For while the big one was no longer breathing fire, he didn’t look fond of us at all. There was a mixture of disgust and rage in his features and I’m certain that if Nopea wasn’t there the giant Bovem would have likely crushed us to death.

The younger looking couple didn’t have quite the same hatred for Rufus and I, but they certainly looked at us distrustfully enough, with just a touch of fear in their features. What Rufus and I could do against those monsters unarmed and unarmored was a complete mystery to me, but they certainly seemed to think we meant them harm. Nopea spoke to the family some more and seemed to reach some sort of agreement with the group. Hopefully it was an agreement not to kill us on sight, but who could say. All I know for sure is that after the conversation ended he brought us over to the freshly tilled earth which cause me to sink a bit with each step, then he started to punch the air.

Now normally a display like that would cause me to laugh, I mean what was this wolf trying to do, but the more he punched the more I could see how much power was going into those blows. Then he adding in some kicks and I was soon mesmerized by the performance. The Lupusi flowed from one attack right into the next, his attacks were smooth and powerful, with enough speed to make dodging a risky proposition. I knew after maybe five minutes of watching him work that I didn’t want to fight this monster…

Of course soon after this thought crystalized in my head he called me over saying a word I once again almost understood, “enfoque.” Ugh if only he had called for Rufus, things would have been much better but he called for me, his stare never leaving my face as I came close to him. He drew a line in the dirt in front of me, then stepped back a few feet and drew another line which he ended up standing behind. When the Bovem saw this they approached the two of us, stopping around fifteen feet away from us. The giant ended up dragging his foot along the ground, creating a circle around us, then he said, “Slass” and Nopea moved. I couldn’t tell you how exactly he moved, but I was flat on my back within a second of the announcement. I felt my head ringing and my vision was a little messed up due to all of the flashing sparkling lights clouding it up.

Then Nopea placed his hand on my forehead, and I felt his mana flooding through me, repairing the damage he had just caused. In less than a minute my thoughts had cleared up and I was finally able to take note of the fact that Rufus was by my side, glaring at Nopea. When Nopea took a step away from me, Rufus helped me up and said, “That Wolf is dangerous, he moved so fast that my eyes had trouble tracking him. One second he was behind his line and the next he was shoving your head into the ground. Are you okay sir, I know he healed you, but I can’t tell how effective it was.”

I looked up at my chief guardsmen and said, “Well the headache is gone and I can think clearly again, so I think I’m alright, but I hope he doesn’t want me to do that again.”

Rufus helped me out away from the center of the circle and Nopea called out, “Rufus, enfoque”

I watched as Rufus began to limber up his shoulders as he approached Nopea, which seemed to put a grin on Nopea’s face. When Rufus got to the line the Bovem once again said, “Slass” and I got to see the move Nopea used against me from a different angle. He was fast that was for sure, and he stretched out his paw reaching for Rufus’ forehead before I could even blink. I thought that was going to be the end of the fight, but Rufus surprised me, he managed to duck out of the way of the attack and wound up slamming his fist into Nopea’s gut. I started to cheer, but then I noticed that when Nopea jumped away he didn’t look injured in the slightest, meanwhile Rufus looked like he had just punched a brick wall. Nopea began to circle Rufus, who was forced to constantly turn in tight little movements in order to keep him in his sights. Then he moved again at that same ridiculous speed, racing forward almost faster than I could track. He feinted to his left before quickly jumping to the right and striking out at Rufus’ stomach. The blow connected, and I thought that would be the end of the fight, but Rufus stood firm and swung back at Nopea’s face. His fist connected but it quickly became obvious that it was an ineffective blow as Nopea jumped back with the strike.

Once again Nopea was out of striking distance and Rufus was forced to make turn in a small circle to keep up with him. He jumped in once again, performing the exact same attack, only Rufus was ready for it this time. Instead of allowing Nopea to be the only one moving, Rufus jumped forward, closing the distance between the two faster than Nopea expected. Rufus once again struck out with his fist, connecting with Nopea’s face. This time the blow was much more effective as it appeared to stagger the Lupusi. I cheered for Rufus, celebrating the strike, but when I looked over at the Bovem and their smiling faces I felt my heart sink a bit. They wouldn’t be smiling if they were sure of the outcome.

Nopea shook his head as if to clear it, then he started circling again. He jumped in once again and did a different variation on his previous move, instead of feinting once, he feinted twice, once to the right, once to the left, then he jumped forward straight at Rufus. The wily old veteran seemed to expect this move because instead of trying to cut off either of the feints he instead leaped backwards. Unfortunately his leap backward wasn’t nearly as impressive as Nopea’s charge forward. Nopea’s fist met Rufus’ guard before he even hit the ground. Rufus was blown back a couple of feet and tried to recover. Nopea didn’t give him the time to do so. He quickly reached down, grabbed Rufus’ ankle and jerked it up. Rufus fell to his back and looked like he wanted to stand up and continue the fight, but Nopea was on him before he could move. He reached down and grabbed Rufus’ forehead just like he had mine earlier and a wave of healing energy rushed through the older veteran.

Nopea then helped Rufus up and sent him out of the circle. He then called out, “Urhea, enfoque” and the second largest of the Bovem stepped into the ring. The fight that followed was a marvel, it was a battle of speed and technique against pure strength and resiliency. Nopea was able to land significantly more strikes, and the sound of bone meeting flesh every time he made contact with a fist or foot was so loud it was almost deafening. Of course it might have been nice if it had deafened me, for while I was trying to enjoy watching the fight, Rufus was complaining and giving me a running commentary. “The Wolf was toying with me the whole time, he pulled his punches and gave me easy predictable patterns to figure out. You had best take note of how he is moving Sir, for this is a warrior without a doubt. His movements and attack patterns are something only a capable fight could pull off. Look at how he has been targeting one side, relying only on his left fist for most of the attacks. The wolf is imprinting an image of attacks only coming from the left so that eventually when he attacks from the right it will be a show stopper.”

I replied, “So Nopea is setting the big one up for a fall?”

“Yeah he sure is, he knows that ordinary attacks won’t bring down that giant, there is just too much muscle to hit anything truly vital, so he is forcing the Bovem to crouch a bit and protect his right side, it’s slowly opening up his left for what I can only imagine will be his strongest hit.”

Rufus was right, not two minute later, after a particularly vicious kick to Urhea’s abs he quickly dodged the counter, leapted into the air, and brought his right fist down on the bovem’s jaw. Urhea ended up dropping like a sack of Potus, thus ending the fight. Nopea then kneeled down beside the fallen Bovem and sent a wave of healing energy through the beast. The repairs required were apparently a little more extensive than what we had needed because it took a solid five minutes before the Bovem was able to stand again on his own two feet.

After helping Urhea back to the side of the ring Nopea got into the center once again and said, “Tukeva, enfoque.” And that was how we spent the next two hours. Nopea spent the entire time in the center of the circle, he would call us up one by one and we would fight. Personally I simply did my best to not get knocked out. It didn’t go very well, I lost to the exact same move five times in a row before I was finally able to get the timing right and dodge it. Of course even though I finally dodged his first strike I wasn’t in a great position to block or dodge his follow up. After going seven rounds with the Lupusi it became quite apparent that I was no match for him unarmed. Then I went over our fights and imagined carrying a sword… Things didn’t go much better, I was confident I could last at least a couple more seconds, but that was it.

Rufus on the other hand was able to eventually get Nopea to stop playing with him. While he stilled pulled his blows he at least stopped using such predictable attack patterns. I counted it as a win, Rufus merely wished he had a sword. After saying goodbye to the family of Bovem Nopea lead us once again on a run. This time it was slower than our first run, but it was still much faster than I was truly comfortable with. It took us a little over an hour to return to his farm, and I was able to get a much better look at the countryside now that my vision wasn’t narrowed with fatigue. Of course just because I could focus on the landscape now that exhaustion wasn’t ruining my ability to see didn’t mean that I was actually able to see anything worthwhile.

Our run was long, boring and monotonous, the scenery was relatively unchanging throughout the experience. The river stayed on our right as we made our way south, taunting me with its’ cool and inviting appearance. The plains to me left continued to be a grassy expanse, relatively flat with the occasional hill. The forest on the other bank remained somewhat dark and intimidating, it looked wilder than the forest I was used to. But we pressed on until arriving at the little farm house.

Our approach allowed me to check out the extent of the land being cultivated and frankly I was impressed, two families had managed to farm what looked like 15 acres, which was close to double what could be expected from a typical human farm. And not only did they have an incredible amount of land being farmed, but they also managed to create a pond to irrigate their fields. I knew the pond was artificial because the small stream we had been following was too straight to be anything other than man or I guess in this case Lupusi made.

The only thing that really stood out and made the farm look odd was the large encampment just east of the fields and south of the farm houses. While the rows of tents were in a neat enough order they certainly didn’t fit in with the rustic appearance of the farm, especially the gaudy tent in the center of the encampment. It was huge and dyed gold, it stood out like a sore thumb. But the residents of said tents obviously didn’t care that they were ruining the perfectly peaceful scene of a prosperous farm. Instead the occupants of said tent were busy off in the woods, cutting down trees and bringing them into a rather large pile just north of the artificial pond.

Nopea signaled for us to follow him as he made his way toward the ever growing pile of lumber. I ran up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder, he looked down at me and I mimed drinking water. He responded with one word, “Agua?” And I nodded me head, so he went indoors and brought us each a mug of water. I drank the water slowly, savoring each drop as it soothed my parched throat, being especially careful not to spill any. When I finished the mug I repeated the word he said before, “Agua?” then mimed refilling the cup, he responded with, “Mas?” I wasn’t sure what that meant but hopefully it meant more, so I said, “Mas Agua.” He once again nodded and went back inside with our empty cups, returning with full ones. After finishing a second glass we brought our mugs back inside and then followed Nopea to the growing pile of lumber.

----------------------------------

AN: Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, I'll be switching back to Swift for the next one. Oh and in case you guys haven't noticed yet, Julius is going to be an important character, though the impact of his actions won't really be felt until the second arc. Let me know in the comments below how you are liking the story's progression and please rate my work. I finally got into the active top 100, though I would like to make that the top 50. Anyway hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, now I'm going to get started on the next one.