Chapter 031:

There was less than a days travel before they reached Maxill and everyone had made camp for the night. Anton was not on watch and curled up to sleep infront of the fire. Kal and a few other villagers were on watch. Some of the villagers were starting to talk to her, about things other than food. It seemed to be having a positive effect on Kal as well. She started smiling a tiny bit more, not enough to show her canine teeth though.

His dreams and thoughts drifted back to Atros, wondering how they all were doing, especially his little silver fox. She would probably find it cute if she found out that he had mentally called her that. Though not when she was fighting with that wild smile of hers and while drenched in and manipulating blood. That was a little frightening, especially the way she seemed to get lost in the fighting. Regardless, he was missing the feeling of her warmth and touch on his body.

He wondering what she was up to back at Atros. It would, hopefully, be a pleasant month off from fighting.

Something started to knock him out of his pleasant dreaming. It was a gentle push on his head, then another. The dream began to fade and the flicker of the orange light of the fire entered his sleepy eyes.

Another hit struck him in the gut, quite hard. He let out an involuntary splutter as he reached out and grabbed a hold of whatever was hitting him. It was about the size of a large branch but it was not solid. The outside was rough, but not in the same way as wood, and it felt as if there was some give underneath. Soft even.

His eyes opened fully. He was holding something made of rough cloth, Kal's foot. It definitely did not feel the same as a humans foot, there did not appear to be a heel where he had grabbed at the base of her foot, only something vaguely hard to give it a similar shape.

However he knew that it was not something to worry about right then.

Kal was not someone who would hit him, even lightly, for no good reason.

She looked quite scared, but not because he had grabbed her foot. Her eyes almost shone in the darkness as they rapidly glanced between him and the outside of the camp.

“What's happening?” he whispered as quietly as he could.

Kal knelt down, her bow was out and had an arrow knocked.

“I smell something on the wind.” she took a deep sniff at the air. “It's blood, lots of it. It smells like the Orcs.”

He slapped his face to wake himself more quickly, the clarity of his vision quickly returning. The other villagers were being woken by those on watch as quietly as they could.

“I thought we left on good terms.” Anton lamented as he stood up, brushing a few leaves and pieces of dirt from his clothes.

Kal shook her head.

“It's Orc blood, but there is another smell. It's-”

There was a glint in the darkness, two of them very close together. Almost as quickly as they emerged they disappeared. It was the way that they slinked back into the shadows that gave him the chills.

They looked very familiar.

“Kal, do you smell something like a dog...or a wolf?”

Kal paled slightly as she nodded towards him. As his eyes became more accustomed to the darkness he could see more and more glints moving about, the light from the fire reflected in their eyes. There were dozens at the very least. The other villagers, and animals, had noticed and were beginning to panic.

“I've never fought this many before.” Kal said with almost a whimper.

“Everyone, move to the animals try and form a circle. Make sure they don't get attacked.” Anton ordered. “Dana, I don't think you'll be on horses for this one, it's way too dark to see properly.”

“Thought so.” Dana replied, wielding a spear in both hands.

Everyone retrieved their weapons and formed a circle as best they could. The wolves or ,whatever creatures they were, lurked outside their camp still not willing to attack. Anton moved onto the top of a cart to get a better vantage point, Kal following. They were the only two that had ranged capabilities.

“We can't just wait forever for them to attack.” Anton started. “I'll make a light and see what we're dealing with. Just...everyone, try to make it through this no matter what.”

He did not wait for a reply, forming a small fireball in his hands. He focused his mental energy into making it as bright as possible at the expense of any destructive capability.

With a tiny push of mana, the fireball flew above his head. The entire area burst into light.

He kind of wished he did not know. A quick glance around showed how much trouble they were in.

Almost fifty grey and white wolves had surrounded them. They snarled and growled but seemed hesitant to advance. The sudden bright light had startled them, making them hesitate. He had seen this at the lake with the wolves that attacked them there, when something new and unexpected happened. They were not stupid beasts that would just charge in.

Last time Verona was with them and had single handedly killed them all, as part of her awakening to her powers. Now it was considerably different.

That also means that there's probably a large one, an Alpha, hiding somewhere behind these. If we can kill that one the rest will run.

“Anyone see an Alpha wolf?” Anton asked. “It'll probably be a lot bigger than the others.”

The villagers looked around and found nothing. It, if it was leading the wolf pack, must be hiding somewhere in the shadows.

The wolves recovered from the stun of the light emerging and began to advance from all sides.

“Everyone, stay together and don't get pulled out of formation, even if it's to help someone else.” Anton said, “We need to kill enough for the Alpha to show itself and once it's dead they'll run.”

He glanced quickly at Kal, she seemed to have no objection to the idea. She nodded and pulled back on her bow.

“Here we go then.”

Anton decided to use lightning bolts, the other types of magic that he knew of were too slow and cumbersome to deal with the rapid wolves, especially with them darting in from the shadows. While he could have used fire magic it would probably set fire to the forest, and the lightning bombs could create so much debris flying about that he might not be able to see the wolves coming, not to mention it would stun his own villagers.

He summoned eight lightning bolts and threw them at the wolves in front.

The bolts struck the wolves square in the face, the force so great they barely let out a whimper as they died. Fur blackened and skin charred with large chucks of flesh being blown off, exposing the damaged skull underneath.

The wolves did not seem to be worried that eight of them had died in a second. The ones behind him snarled and charged, covering the distance like it was not even there. Had they not seen their comrades die?

As Anton prepared another barrage of lightning he heard the twang of a bow being released.

Kal let an arrow loose at a wolf behind him, striking it in the shoulder. It howled in pain as it rolled and twisted onto the ground. The other wolves around it slowed, for just a moment, before returning to their charge. The idea of pain must have been greater for them than the fear of death, death being so final.

The wolves were only a few meters away, Anton let loose as many bolts as he could but it was still not enough. A dozen died either side, blunting the attack from those directions, but a few got close. The villagers raised their weapons as the wolves smashed into the villagers shields, swinging their weapons at them at the last moment. Chunks of blood and fur flew into the air, a few with spears moved back and attacked from behind the relatively safety of the shields.

Another twang of a bow being released came from behind him. The wolves were still running at them from the rear. Kal's arrow struck one in the eye, its body falling tumbling and falling limp.

She pulled out another arrow as the wolves attacked the villagers in the rear, two wolves leapt up and jumped at the both of them. It was terrifying to see them leap so far and high, baring teeth and claws. Anton fired off another two lightning bolts in quick succession, both only striking one as its body twisted into the way of the second bolt and the second wolf.

Kal dropped the bow and pulled out a dagger. The surviving wolf tackled her, receiving a cut to the face but managed to knock her down. She landed harshly on the back of the wooden cart amongst the boxes of supplies, the arrows flying out of her quiver and scattering over the cart. The wolf did not wait for her to respond and tried to bite her. Her feet kicked wildly at its face as she tried to get back upright to attack. It continued to snap at her as she kicked it in the snout, receiving a snap on her toes.

Kal hit back with an almighty kick. The wolf flew back, its hind legs landed on the edge of the cart. It lunged again, pushing off the edge of the cart and back at Kal. There was panic on her face as she had yet to stand back up. She pulled her foot back to kick, but the wolf had learned.

It bit down hard onto her foot. She screamed in pain as the wolf trashed its head about, like her foot was a chew toy.

All this happened in a matter of a few seconds.

The two were too close for Anton to use a lightning bolt normally, it could run through its body and kill Kal. He reduced the power of the lightning bolt, just enough to stun, and threw it at the wolf.

The bolt struck it in the side and stunned the beast, Kal taking the chance and stabbed it in the neck. She appeared unaffected by the blast. With a whimper it died and slumped off to the side. Her foot bleed through her hand as she clutched it tight.

Anton glanced around to see how the battle was going. The wolves were being held off, only a few villagers had been wounded. He fired off a few more bolts off before checking on Kal.

“Are you okay?” Anton asked, squatting down.

“I'm fine.” Kal said through her gritted canine teeth. She had already re-bandaged her foot with a loose piece of cloth and moved it underneath her body so he could not get a good look at it. “We've got more important things to worry about.”

“Right.” Anton quickly replied. Later he would need to check up on her.

He stood back up. There were only a few wolves attacking them, the rest were looking on terrified; their tail tucked between their legs, and glancing towards a single spot.

So that's where you're hiding.

Anton fired lightning bolts at the few wolves left attacking, each dying in a single hit. The villagers had killed quite a few by themselves, now breathing deeply in relief for the reprieve. They had a few cuts but nothing major, it was quite gratifying to see how well they worked together.

“There it is.” Kal said She remained on her knees, probably without the strength to stand yet. She picked up her bow and knocked another arrow.

A large set of eyes started to move forward, the shadowy silhouette of the wolf moving closer through the darkness.

This one was massive, far larger than the one that appeared at the lake. It was more the size of a large bear than a wolf. How such a thing could grow to that size was beyond him.

He snapped his mind from admiring the beast to trying to kill it. A lightning bolt arced from his hand and straight at its face.

It struck, burning some fur around its nose but little else. If anything it seemed to laugh, however mad that would seem.

I put quite a bit of power in that bolt...is it like that Alpha Thumper? Does it have that purple magic inhibitor flesh? This could get really bad.

He summoned lightning bombs and threw them. The Alpha wolf ran, darting from side to side as it charged them. It dogged a few but most struck its face and body. White light burst from each impact but it kept running. There were a few more wounds but they looked superficial at best.

Fearing the worst, he started to form a lightning ring that would blast the charging wolf. The villagers began to whimper.

An arrow flew forward and pierced its eye.

The Alpha wolf dug its feet into the ground and brought itself to a halt, howling in pain as it used front paws to scratch away at the arrow.

That purple flesh was fragile in the Alpha Thumper, so the rest of it's probably just as strong as a regular, bear sized, wolf's flesh.

“Again!” Anton told Kal.

She nodded, drawing back another arrow from her kneeling position.

The wolf broke off the arrow in its eye, leaving a small wooden stump behind. Its mouth drew back, exposing its gums as it growled.

Now it was really mad.

The villagers remained silent, more than willing to not keep their distance.

Another arrow flew, hitting its shoulder. It howled in pain, turned around and ripped it out, throwing it far away.

She did not wait for him to order another shot, letting loose another arrow and striking it in the center of its skull.

It whimpered and shook its head. Now it actually seemed quite wounded.

Anton summoned another fireball, making it as hot as he could possibly manage. There was a chance that it would set fire to the grass and the forest around the wolf but they had to survive this first. Kal did not have that many arrows left within easy reach, most had been scattered about by the wolf's attack, and its size alone would make it deadly up close.

The fireball was small but white hot, using quite a bit of mana to create and maintain. It was hot enough to make the others recoil from the heat.

He threw it straight at the wolfs head, particularly where the two wooden arrow heads stood out. The fireball hit the center of its head as the beast was about to resume its charge. It exploded in white flames, the wooden arrows igniting instantly, along with a good portion of its fur around the wound.

It screamed.

The fur burned, not charred. The arrows acted like conduits drawing the heat straight into its skull without having to penetrate through the layers of purple flesh. The small holes expanded to the size of a golf ball. Underneath, through the dying flickers of the flame, he could see its blackening skull exposed to the light and air.

It let out a final whimper and slumped down, smoke pouring out of its empty eye socket and the center of its head. Tiny wisps of smoke started to emanate from its mouth as well.

Some grass around the head began to shrivel and twist from the residual heat. He had not intended it to be that hot. Its remaining eye expanded and burst as it boiled, the rest of the flesh in its mouth began to slowly blister and its tongue swelled and changed color. The head twitched one last time then was still.

The remaining wolves looked at each-other and yelped, running back into the darkness and safety of the forest, their tails tucked between their legs.

Kal shot another arrow into the Alpha Wolf. It landed with a thump into its neck.

It remained still.

“Is it dead?” Raston asked.

Anton honestly had no idea, but by the way its face was continuing to slowly burn, it probably was.

Thanks the gods that the arrows allowed the magic to burn through. Is it that the flesh is only resistant to magic when it's undamaged, like a bullet-proof vest? The arrows allowed the heat to pierce it regardless, if it actually had any of that purple flesh. It's something that's probably going to be useful to know in the future.

“I think so.” Anton replied, “Could someone poke it with a spear?”

Dana was the one to move forward, Anton saw the concern on Raston's face. She jabbed it in face. Life had left the beast.

“That was quite....” Raston could not finish, resting himself upon the cart. The other villagers, and Anton himself, were starting to shake. The adrenaline was wearing off and the relief of surviving was kicking in. It was not severe but it was certainly noticeable.

Anton scanned the surroundings. There was no sign of the wolves and all the animals were safe, it a little scared. He kept the fireball above them going as the villagers began to spread out, some just sitting on the ground to rest.

“Yes. Yes it was.” Anton answered, “Take a breather, and I'll get to healing everyone in a bit.”

---[]---

It had only been a short battle, one no where near as violent or large as fighting the Yellow Goblins or Kobolds, but Anton felt a noticeable drop of strength in his body. He had used a bit of mana to kill the wolves and heal the villagers, which left him feeling somewhat depleted. The adrenaline withdrawal was probably adding to that.

The other villagers tried their best to get some sleep but he could see it was very hard for them. A few stood on watch while the others did their best to get some rest, but they still seemed alert, like their bodies would not let them sleep. Anton was the same, he had gotten a few hours sleep before the attack so he would manage.

None of the villagers needed serious healing, some had some deep bite marks but they were quickly healed with his prayer magic. They had done very well in keeping themselves undamaged and none of the animals had been attacked.

His attention was brought back to the large Alpha Wolf. It had taken quite a few hits before going down. If there were a few archers with them they would have made short work of it, regardless of its magic resistance. While magic was undeniably strong, when something like this emerged, that resisted his attacks, it made him feel quite weak. A sense of security that the magic gave him was gone during that fight.

There was something different about this one, something primal and strange, its size not withstanding. The one at the lake had been killed by Verona. He did care to investigate it there, especially while there were more important things to worry about, like their survival.

He walked up to it and knelt down. To see what he had done, despite the magic resistance, was somewhat terrifying. The skin had curled away, the ends of the fur had turned black and reeked of the disgusting smell of brunt hair. Underneath that a fragment of exposed bone, where Kal's arrow once existed and allowed the heat to travel through to the brain underneath, blackened by unimaginable heat. Judging by the how dark the bone now was the brain underneath should be smouldering inside its skull.

Using a knife, he prodded around at the flesh and saw something odd at the very edge of a relatively undamaged section. He cut deeply at a fresh section. Amongst the red flesh there was something purple layered amongst the red. With the knife he prodded it, the thing layer of purple flesh disintegrating with a single touch.

Just like the Alpha Thumper.

I thought it might have that. The magic resistant purple flesh...Maybe whatever makes this one so large, and that Thumper, is connected to this purple flesh. It's a long shot, but I wonder if Kal might know something.

He turned to see Kal crouched on top of the cart, her head and ears twitching as she kept an eye out for any other attacks. Anton guessed that the wolf pack was the dominant predatory group in the region. Not many creatures would be foolish enough to attack them now, especially as they are all still alive and so many dead wolves lay about. Perhaps some scavengers might try something.

She had not moved since the fight and he had yet to heal her. She insisted that everyone else be looked at first, getting angry when he insisted on seeing her first.

“Kal?” Anton called out.

Her head twitched in his direction, happy but also somewhat pained. He did not know how much damage the wolf attack had managed to do. She had covered her foot before he could get a look at it. His mind flickered back to when she kicked him, soft underneath the cloth wrappings and a little different to what he was expecting. It would be a good chance to heal her and check if she knew anything.

“You have a moment? I want you to look at something.”

She nodded and hopped off the cart. As her feet touched the ground she cried out in pain and clutched at her right foot. There was fresh blood all over it. As she rubbed it something white stood out of the center, almost hidden by the newly wrapped piece of cloth which had come loose.

It looked like a broken tooth, she must have been attacked far worse than he thought. The idea that she would hide an injury like that was not a pleasant one. Some of the other villagers looked over in concern and then to Anton. He had already started walking towards her when she looked up.

“If you had gotten hurt you should have just said so.” he said, almost chastising her by his tone.

As he knelt down to get a better look Kal shifted her injured foot back behind the other and pushed him away quite forcefully.

“No! No. I'll be alright.” she said back to him, the pain clear in her voice.

She kept her head down as she tried to take another step back, whimpering as she applied pressure to the foot. Her breathing started to quicken and become more erratic as she lifted her foot up so it hanged limp in the air.

“Kal. Stop it.” he said commandingly.

She looked up, tears welling up in the corner of her eyes.

“You're hurt. And I can help.” he said, sitting down and motioning for her to do the same. “If your worried about what I may think about you after seeing your foot, don't. You know by know that I'm not going to think any differently of you.”

The apprehension started to fade, finally disappearing as her shoulders slumped down.

“Okay.” she replied, “I'm sorry I did that.”

“It's fine.” Anton said, waving his hand to let her know he did not worry about it. “Now, sit down so I can get a better look at it.”

“Can't you just use your prayer power and heal it?” she asked in a last attempt to avoid having to show him her naked foot.

Anton had another glance at her foot. The tooth was sticking out nearly an inch either side of the cloth.

“I could, but when I've used it before they've always been an open wound or something similar. There's never been a foreign body part in a wound I've healed. For all I know it might heal around it, and that's something I know you definitely don't want.”

Kal grimaced and pursed her lips, finally relenting to Anton. With a slight groan she sat herself down with her back against the cart's wheel. She held out her injured foot, allowing Anton to get a hold of it and a better look at it.

The other villagers saw that Anton was taking care of it. Most went back to sleeping, a few trying to move the corpses away as best they could.

He picked up her foot and held it infront of him with both hands. She seemed to be in great discomfort, though he did not know if it was from the physical pain or apprehension that he was actually holding her foot and about to see what lay underneath.

The tooth had not only gone through her foot but had dragged quite a bit of the cloth through with it. He looked underneath and it looked better but not by much. She must not want anyone to see her feet to hide it so desperately.

“Okay. It looks like it's dragged it through.”

Kal looked quite upset.

“So...um, we're going to have to take the bandage off your foot. At least where the tooth is.”

He glanced up and saw that her face was completely drenched in fear, her tanned face was almost deathly white. Her feet were clearly not human but she had shown them her hands without too much concern.

Maybe they're so different that she's worried that I might think of her as a complete freak.

Kal took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

“Okay. It comes off below the knee.”

She reached into a slightly larger fold just below her knee and pulled out the end of the cloth rag. It appeared to have just been tucked tightly into a fold of cloth to keep it on her leg.

He gently placed the foot onto the ground, the thought of him holding her foot while she removed the cloth wrappings was a little strange. Just like at the first time they met, she took it off very slowly. Her hands shook as she fumbled with the cloth.

As the cloth wraps began to loosely fall away it revealed the dark aqua fur all the way up to just below the knee, the same color as her ears and hands, that lay underneath. It looked quite rough with many knots and tufts throughout it, unlike her arms.

The cloth remained attached where the tooth dragged it through, but it was more than enough to get a look at her foot. She had an impressive set of calves on her, despite her lack of food over the years, but below that it became quite clear why she had been so frightened.

Her foot was not even remotely human. If he had to describe it quickly, it was an odd mix of a dogs and human feet. She was a digitigrade.

It looked like she stood on the front half of her foot as the heel was basically non existent. There was a slight bulge, where the ankle would be if a human were to wear very high heels. It was covered by fur, but it looked like it was always off the ground as there were no pad there to help soften the impact of walking. Underneath that part was a large wad of cloth, that allowed her to walk somewhat like a human without putting too much stress on her feet.

There were only four toes on the front, larger than a humans with a large claw sticking out that looked incredibly sharp. The joints on her toes were quite large but did not look like they were causing her any pain. The four toes formed the front with one further up the inside of her foot. This one looked like it never touched the ground, small and vestigial but still with a claw. Her big toe, probably.

Underneath the front of her foot there were pads, just like she had on her hands, small ones underneath the toes and a large one behind those which formed the base of her foot. It had seen quite a bit of action of the years, thicker and more rough than the ones on her hand. It covered what would have been half a human foot, larger to help distribute the weight. Judging by the way she walked normally she was putting quite a bit of stress on her feet to appear more human like, despite the cloth wad to help distribute the weight.

On the knuckles of her toes were strange orange marks, in a rough four pointed star. The orange against her aqua fur looked odd, but it appeared to be a natural color rather than a dye.

He held the end of her foot. She recoiled her toes before letting them relax. The fur was unbelievably soft to the touch, short and somehow delicate to the touch. Out of curiosity he tried to move one of her toes, it moved just like a human toe. Like most things about her, he found it quite striking. Odd, but not ugly or revolting.

A quick glance up and he saw that her face was beet red, an odd look of shame and embarrassment. It looked like she was bracing herself for Anton to yell out in disgust, but he looked at it with more curiosity than anything else.

“You...You don't think it's weird?” she asked, lowering her hood to try and shield her face.

“I can't say that I don't think it's weird.” Anton replied truthfully, “But, you've had these feet this whole time. It doesn't change a thing for me.”

There was a hint of relief on her face, but it was still drenched embarrassment.

“You'll probably want to be ready for this next bit.” Anton said, “There's a bit of cloth still stuck inside and it'll definitely hurt to take it out.”

Kal nodded and barred her teeth in readiness. With one hand he held her foot above the wound and the other grasped the tooth as best he could, using a bit of the cloth to provide extra grip. He glanced up and reefed it out in one go, not telling Kal that he was about to.

She gasped in pain before letting out a load groan.

“Why didn't you tell me?” she asked somewhat angrily.

“Because you would have tensed up and made it much worse. Just get it over with.”

The wound was raw and now, without the plug of the tooth, blood started to flow out. Kal looked quite worried at the volume of blood leaving her.

Anton moved his hands and covered the wound.

Tethra, goddess of prayer, heal this wound and restore it to it's...natural state. May you also heal her body, healing anything that has been damaged over the years.

Half his mana flowed out, more than he had used on any single person, possibly baring Verona when she had just gotten her powers.

He removed his hand and watched the wound heal itself. The fur regrew and the blood around her wound disappeared. The blood on his hands did not so he rubbed it into the grass.

Kal looked completely bewildered by what just happened to her. She shuffled backwards and covered her body with her cloak, holding it tight with her hand. Her whole body must have changed , judging by the amount of mana it took out of him.

She looked at her foot, and then to him, in shock.

“That, that was weird. You...Your mana...”

She flexed her foot and toes. After giving a nod of approval she started to wrap her foot back up again. It took her very little time, her hands being quite skilled at redressing herself.

“Thank you Anton. I feel a bit better all over actually. A little different.” she said, massaging her shoulders and neck. “You...did that to me? It felt like there was another...force...inside of me.”

“I've healed you before, back at the training fields.”

“It wasn't this much.”

“No, it wasn’t. I asked Tethra to not only heal your foot but also some of the damage done to your body over the years, damage that you probably didn't know about. So you should be feeling better and your body should be on the way to being back to the way it should be. I'm sorry if it felt weird, I haven't had it done to me by somebody else, so I don't know what it feels like.”

She smiled, the redness having faded to virtually nothing, but it was still noticeable.

“I, um, shouldn't have tried to push you away when you wanted to help me.” she flexed her clothed foot, the blood covered quite a few layers of the cloth. “You can see why I was quite nervous about it.”

“Yeah.” Anton replied. “That would make someone who hates Beast-kin lash out.”

“But you don't?”

Anton shrugged, giving her foot a last pat before Kal tucked it under her body.

“Like I said with the Orcs, you haven't done anything wrong to me so I don't have a reason to hate you. Or any other Beast-kin or half breed Beast-kin. I'll let their actions speak for themselves.”

“You are a weird one.”

Kal chuckled, Anton too. She almost smiled but looked over to the wolves. Mentioning the Orcs brought up the question that they had no time to answer.

“You think they're dead?” she asked, looking over at the Alpha wolf corpse.

They both stood up and walked over. Kal kept her cloak wrapped tight around her.

“You feeling cold?” Anton asked. The air was a little cool now that it was probably an hour or so before dawn. Having her body healed may have increased her sensitivity to the cold.

She shook her head.

“Not really, I just feel a little different. I can breath a little easier thanks to you and a few other things feel a bit odd. I always feel safer in my cloak when I'm nervous.”

There was a tinge of red to her face but she seemed to be happy.

She knelt down by the wolf's head, pulled out her knife and started to prod about its teeth. Between two teeth near the back were a few strands of black hair.

She pulled them free and gave them to Anton. They were quite long, long enough to be human. Long enough to belong to the Orcs.

“It doesn't look good for Lazgar and his clan now.” Anton sighed.

Kal looked quite crestfallen herself. While they were not human, they had treated her with the same respect that they had given Anton. Probably an extreme rarity for her.

“They could have gotten away.” she replied, trying to raise his hopes, “There's not that much blood, its smell travels quite far. I can't tell how many were attacked, it might have been only one or two before they were chased off.”

“There's nothing that we can do either way. They said that they were heading to the Red Spines, about thirty to forty days away from when we left. It would be nearly impossible to find them in the forest. Do you know where these Red Spines are?”

Kal shook her head.

“No. This is the furthest south I've ever been. And I've never heard of the place, though I don't think that many humans or Beast-kin would want to head to Orc territory uninvited or without good reason.”

She opened her mouth to speak but closed it before saying anything. It looked like she was about to say sorry and remembered what he had said before.

“This Alpha wolf took quite a few hits before dying,” Anton began, “There was a large Thumper that Verona and I disturbed when we were picking healing herbs. It took quite a few hits before dying too. We pulled its flesh apart, near a wound, and we found this strange purple flesh layered throughout it. It's fragile but it seems to stop my magic, at least until it gets worn away or there's too much magic, so it's not perfect. Here...”

Anton formed a flame in his hand and pushed it towards an exposed section. The small flame started to wobble and flicker, he had to used more mana to keep it active, not that Kal would know that. As he pulled back the flame stabilized and burned steadily. He withdrew the flame and looked to Kal. She frowned and poked at the purple flesh with her knife.

“I've never seen something like this. Never heard of something like this. Maybe nobody with magic tried before, they just think that it's the way it is, too uptight to try. Or they do but don't see the need to share it. I don't know any mages other than you and Verona.”

“You mentioned that you saw mages in your...travels.” Anton started, standing up along with Kal. There would be time later to harvest some of the magic resistant flesh from some large Thumpers back at Atros. “What were they like?”

Kal looked into the forest, her eyes lost focus as she delved into a deep memory.

“The few that I saw wore these really bright and colorful robes, incredibly well made and always looked new and clean. The color showed what type of magic they could control; red for fire and blue for water, that sort of thing. There was one that I saw that was silver...or iron, in color. I don't know what that one could control.”

Kal looked him hard in the eyes.

“But all of them, with no exceptions, were arrogant. They looked down on everyone and everything that wasn't a mage, even the ones that could barely conjure up a flame. I was kind of worried that you would be the same.”

Anton walked back to one of the carts and sat upon it, Kal sitting next to him.

“They might not have been arrogant all the time. Is using magic is a truly rare thing?”

Kal nodded.

“They might have be given everything and had special privileges, getting whatever they wanted in the hopes that they would get stronger and help whomever tries to bribe them. It could warp their sense of worth. Making them seem like they are the most important and special person in the world. It's possible I suppose.”

Kal did not disagree.

“I think that's what Duchess Belinda might have been suffering from, maybe. Apparently she can use fire magic. She treated us well, but we did have to show that we were serious. I showed off some magic to show that we weren't some hicks, plus we had quite a bit of money.”

“She was that bad?”

“I don't think so. She was extorting everything from the people of Maxill though. I told her that happy workers are busy workers, and people with money will spend that to make even more money. She might not respect them, she doesn't have to, only needs to know that she could make even more money that way.”

Anton looked towards the west.

“I wonder if she actually listened.”

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Hello,

Long time, but I started writing this and it kind of got carried away. So, the next two chapters are basically done but as it became so large it kind of got daunting and i had to break it up, otherwise it would be about 20,000 words. Way too long for me to actually edit and look over again.

Anyway, this chap.

Brought back the purple flesh for the big creatures. It was my way of explaining how large creatures could be immune to magic, they're be more about those creatures later on, and I'm thinking about having a type that is physical resistance rather than magical.

I forgot that, last chapter, that i forgot to make the poison immunity temporary. Thinking about it, I'm going to keep it and use it to explore the prayer power.

Kal's foot is something i had to look up for the name. Basically like a dog or cats foot. So you can see why she would definitely want to keep that hidden.

Also with the other types of mages, they are from the empire to the West of Atros, so they won't be seen for a little while. As for the bit about them becoming arrogant, that's my understanding of how they could become entitled little shits.

I'm also working on a map for the Shattered Kingdoms, changing the name, and the world at large. It'll basically be a paint map, but it'll be good enough to show the general location of things.

Thanks for reading.