Dem walked slowly behind Officier Sumisi, more confused than anything else. His eyes ignoring the exaggerated sway of Sumisi’s hips. As they had begun to walk toward the side of the encampment the beastman had appeared on, Dem had realized it was the wrong direction. Ina and Graf were still a short distance away, moving in the trees to avoid scaring the hamlet folk. Graf was slow that high up, and so it taken them longer than Dem had initially thought it would. The problem was Ina and Graf were coming from the opposite side of the encampment than where the Officer was leading Dem. Graf and Ina were coming from the other side of the settlement, where most of the hamlets were, the side facing toward the True Human Realm. Sumisi was leading him toward the side of the encampment that led toward the True Wilds.

***

This beastman, he was going to meet, wasn’t his beastman. He had confirmed that fact with both Ina and Graf, both of which were convinced they hadn’t been sighted yet. This made some sense because normally Dem, and the other guides, would be the one identifying incoming threats, but this close to the settlement should be safe, and so lookouts were all that was necessary. This other beastman must have literally walked right up to the camp to be noticed.

Dem was embarrassed now. He had planned on showing off a bit, and maybe impressing these soldiers enough they left him alone. He didn’t believe they, as sworn soldiers, even ones lacking in discipline, would try to take Ina and Graf from him. They weren’t bandits, and from what Greer had said, they did have to maintain their reputation to some extent. It would be something of a blackmark for Breaker soldiers to be caught robbing from their own conscripts. He didn’t fear their envy or greed exactly, but he was still wary for underhanded tricks. He fully expected Stass to try something at some point.

Dem was roused him from his thoughts of potential treachery by Sumisi stopping in front of him. He looked past her to see a small clearing with a tall post sticking up out of the ground. Tied to the post was the the ugliest and weakest looking beastman Dem had ever seen. He recognized it right away as a hiveling-scavenger. It was something like a large rat that had an extra pair of webbed arms on its back that they used to glide away from predators. They lived in communal hives centered around a single matriarch female. They weren’t dangerous unless you attacked the hive itself. They mostly scavenged for scraps and carrion. They were beyond ugly. They had tufts of patchy grey-green fur here and there on their otherwise naked and wrinkled-skin bodies. They a few odd insect-like features like their large compound eyes, and a long rancid maw with teeth like a crocodile. They were little bigger than a house-cat usually, but this beastman come up to Dem’s belt. He couldn’t imagine a whole hive of these things. There would be hundreds at least.

This particular specimen wore little more than a loincloth and some strange tribal jewelry. Its crudely made spear leaning against a tent out of its reach. Dem noticed that the hiveling was worse for wear, sporting a number of small wounds, black bruised skin, and a ripped arm-wing.

Such creatures were something found on the outskirts of the True Wilds. They weren’t strong enough to hold territory of their own, and so they were pushed to the outskirts of territories of stronger beasts. A beastfolk version of such a creature would have long since been hunted to extinction anywhere near the settlements. There was no reason for it to be here, and certainly no reason for it to approach a settlement this close.

“So, Tamer, you know this beast?”

Beastdung, Dem hadn’t even been thinking about his earlier bragging, his mind consumed by the mystery of this hiveling beastman.

“Uh, no, Officer. I do not. This is as big a surprise to me as it is to you.”

Sumisi looked back at him, a smirk on her face, as if laughing at his discomfort.

“I see, perhaps you can be of use anyway. Tamer, do you recognize this beast? I confess I do not.”

Dem sighed, his plan to push his image with these soldiers having failed, he resigned himself to being of service.

After a moment of consideration, Dem spoke up, “It is a hiveling-scavenger. Where there is one, there are hundreds more at least. Normally you wouldn’t see one this far south. They are weak and are only dangerous in the great numbers you find at their hives.”

Sumisi’s face took a scowl then. Her voice much more concerned, she asked him the most obvious question, “Why do you think its is here?”

“It shouldn’t be here at all. There are very few hiveling hives near here of the normal variety, and certainly none that have ascended to beastfolk. To get here from the True Wilds, using the most direct path, it would have missed another settlement by a cycle of walking time. We are more than forty cycles from that settlement. I would guess it went there first, was attacked, and then came here. That would explain its wounds.”

Officer Sumisi’s face lost a little of its darkness after hearing Dem’s explanation, yet still she seemed far too concerned by the appearance of a single hiveling. Was she worried about having to face the entire hive? There was no real reason to have to fight the hive, when you could simply move around it. They were quite cowardly from what he understood, unless you attacked their home. He doubted fighting hivelings was what the officer was unhappy about.

Sumisi paused for a moment considering something, and then asked Dem another question, “Well, what are the chances it will have a beastcore? I don’t suppose it's worth something? Perhaps its meat is a rare delicacy?”

“Officer, it eats carrion. It would taste little better than it currently smells. They were hunted around here to extinction because their hives are large and often in the way. They also collect junk, some of which might be valuable, if you’re lucky. I suppose I could..”

Before Dem could finish, Sumisi interrupted him. “You want to tame it? It's disgusting. Are you so desperate for beasts?”

“No, officer, I was going to offer to try to communicate with it. It's not necessarily going to know our language. The bloodline memories of beastfolk vary greatly.” Dem couldn’t consider himself an expert on beastfolk, but he knew two pretty well. Ina had a great command of human language, but couldn’t speak well due to her physiology. Graf could speak human, heavily accented, but was not as good with the language as Ina.

“Communicate with it? Why? Wait.. yes, yes I would like you to try, though if you do I may need you to..”

Her voice trailed off, as she got a far away look on her face. Dem was genuinely confused about this situation, but he couldn’t imagine that this didn’t have something to do with why they were out here. This looked less and less like a training mission to him.

Dem, we are here.

Dem sent over the bond. “Thank you Ina, I will meet you in a moment.”

Interrupting the officer’s thoughts, Dem spoke, “Officer, if you will excuse me. I need to go meet my beasts now, they have arrived. I will try to communicate with the hiveling when I come back.”

“Ah? Alright, but hurry back I will need to speak with you before you communicate with it.” Her voice sounded mildly surprised. Dem thought perhaps she really hadn’t believe he had beasts.

“Of course, officer. I will return shortly.”

***

Dem made his way through the encampment without incident. All around him soldiers were breaking down tents and packing away their gear. Some of what they were moving was actually being placed on top of very wide and flat lizard beasts. Dem had never seen them before, and couldn’t remember their name, but knew he had heard of suchs beasts. They were only as tall as his waist, but their body was wide enough for four people to sit side by side on at the widest part. The had three sets of two stout legs, each clawed for finding purchase on rough terrain. Their wide flat bodies were actually sharp in front, almost like a giant walking arrowhead. They were good for use in the Wilds in the sense they could cut right through vegetation as they moved, but weren’t good for riding because they would have to move up and down trees occasionally to fit through vertical gaps. It would take some work and back-tracking to get these beasts through the truly dense areas, but each could haul many times what an individual soldier might carry. He wondered if they had an actual classed Tamer here to handle these beasts, but he thought better of it. These had been domesticated long ago, and didn’t require much in the way of beastcraft.

Dem found it much easier to leave the encampment, than arrive. No one challenged him as he left, walking toward where he could sense Ina and Graf waiting for him. Originally, he had thought it would be fine if they just appeared, but with the other beastman showing up he didn’t want to alarm too many people. A Tamer with beastfolk was rare in the settlements, but not unheard of exactly. He had seen other Tamers certainly, but the ones who were strong enough to control multiple Classed and trained beastfolk would likely stay in the Tower, and probably in a settlement closer to the True Wilds.

As he finally reached the shade of the nearby trees, a ways away from the cleared area of the encampment, a large rumble could be heard as Graf jump down from up high. Ina appeared to his right, her tails possessively entwining around him.

Ina spoke her greeting to him then.

Dem, I missed you. You should clean yourself, your scent is.. intermingled.

Ina's snouted nose wrinkled as she took in his scent. It appeared Greer had left her mark on him.

Dem spoke to both beastfolk over their bond, “Ina, it is good to see you too, and yes.. My parents are safe in the settlement now at least. I’ve been called up as a conscript. We will be heading north as I said earlier.” He tried to ignore Ina’s implication.

Ina’s tails tightened around Dem, in confirmation of his words. Graf simply shrugged his shoulders. Dem could see that the boar beastman was his usual taciturn self.

Dem spoke quickly, “These soldiers are not necessarily our allies. If they attack you, defend yourself but don’t kill anyone if you can help it. If they attack me, only defend my life. While in their encampment we will have thread carefully, as we will be in their power. My plan is to try to spend as little as time as possible with the soldiers, though spending more time out in the Wilds is dangerous in its own way.”

Dem was no general, to be rallying his troops, but he felt he had covered the basics with his beasts. He was most worried about Ina. She was the most overprotective of him, and also the most interesting of his two beasts. Ranger Keff, whom Dem had met on his way back to the settlement, had taken an interest in her. Dem assumed the interest was driven mostly by the fact that Keff would have known that Ina was just a lesser beasts less than a sequence ago. Much like Greer, Keff could only surmise Dem or Ina had found something interesting in the Wilds. Interesting usually meant expensive to adventurers. It was the basic greed and opportunism found everywhere in the Wilds.

Dem sighed, and turned around to begin walking toward the encampment with his beasts in tow. He noticed Ina had taken up a position directly behind Graf, hiding in his shadow. He believed only the most observant would notice her, especially at range.

As they strode closer, he could tell there were a number of people looking in his direction by the time he could start to make out faces of the soldiers on the outskirts of the encampment. The soldiers approached Dem cautiously, their hands on the hilts of their weapons. Dem tried to keep his demeanor calm, and unruffled. He stood as tall as he could, and began to a channel a slight amount of the power of his Path into his eyes. He had experimented on Greer earlier, with very low-level uses of his gaze. He couldn’t be sure it had much effect on the strange woman, but it wouldn’t hurt to try it here. As he had figured out before, influence didn’t necessarily mean control, but it did have some effect on the people he used it on. Already he had noticed people had strong emotions towards him, considering his interactions with Greer, Sumisi, Stass, Keff, and even in basic situations like when he had bought his clothes from that mustached clerk.

A number of soldiers came forward to stop Dem at line where the encampment began. Dem had just been through here a short amount of time before had, and so a few seemed to recognize him. A particularly tall soldier bearing extra markings on his armour stepped forward to ask Dem a question.

“You there, is that your beastman? What is your name? What business do you have here..” He could see the soldier struggled with asking the right question, as he clearly recognized that Dem had just been in the encampment a short moment before.

“Yes, it is mine. I am Tamer Demneh. Speak to Officer Sumisi for confirmation of my identity.” Dem hoped that if he made a significant enough impression he wouldn’t have to answer any more of these silly challenges, word would hopefully spread.

The soldier who stepped forward first, spoke again,“Ah? A Tamer? I thought you a young man of means with a beastman slave for protection, but a Tamer? That is interesting.” The soldier had a simile on his face as he spoke, as if there were a joke here. Dem assumed it had something to do with his Class, but he ignored it.

As Graf towered over many of the soldiers they began to look nervous, and hadn’t taken up whatever unuttered joke the speaking soldier had implied. One had already left to find an officer the moment Dem had finished speaking. Some of the soldiers were trying to peer around Graf, as they must have detected subtle movement behind him. Dem once again drew their attention by speaking.

“I am here because I was conscripted as a guide. Generally it is polite to introduce yourself is it not? What is your name…”

The soldier spoke again, smiling slightly at Dem, “Ah, yes, I suppose it is. I am Sergeant Wehern. You are a conscript you say? A guide? Well we will need you from what I understand. Our own scouts are..” The sergeant stopped himself before he could speak further, a slight flush of embarrassment on his face. He had clearly touched on a subject he wasn’t supposed speak about.

Dem noticed the man was tall, but still several heads shorter than Graf. He was older than Dem, maybe Greer’s age, but still much younger than Dem’s parents. His hair was closely cropped, like most of the soldiers Dem had seen. This was a stark contrast to Suimisi whose long hair was strange. Perhaps it was because she was of the blood? Or just a higher ranked officer? Dem wasn’t sure. Clearly, there was some favoritism going on here.

After making awkward small talk with the sergeant for a short while, a crowd of soldiers arrived, with Sumisi at its head. Dem’s vision of the woman was blocked by the soldiers in front of him, but he could hear her barking questions over their heads.

“Is that a boar beastman? Why are beastmen showing up from every direction? Sergeant, explain what this is..”

She stopped her questions short, as the sergeant in front stepped back to allow her a view of Dem.

“Demneh? Didn’t I tell you to come back quickly? Where did you find that beastman? Can you talk to him to find out what he wants? Make sure he knows to give up his spear if he wants to talk.” Suimisi voice sounded annoyed at all these complications.

Dem laughed, “I already know what Graf here wants thanks to our bond. I know I said I wouldn’t be needing any gear, but Graf here prefers axes to spears. Do you have any really large axes sitting around?”

“Why should we arm a random beastman. Dem, you already know the beast man’s name? That is good.. Wait, you said bond? This is your beast? A boar beastman? Is he Classed? He looks Classed!” Surprise lit her voice as her eyes widened.

“Yes, Officer. He is a Warrior. Graf would you say hello to the Officer?”

Graf merely grunted at the woman, looking bored. Dem chuckled lightly in response, his hand touching the back of his head to scratch a phantom itch.

“So this is your beast? I am impressed! I underestimated you! A boar beastman eh? Classed no less! The Breakers have tangled with the boar tribes before, on rare occasions. They are fierce fighters.” Sumisi seemed genuinely happy, which made Dem relevate the woman. She hadn’t done a great job in reigning in Stass, but he could tell she respected strength at the very least. In that manner, she was definitely a soldier.

“Indeed, he is a great Warrior. I’m sure he appreciates the compliments.” Dem looked back at the face of the beastman, but graf was scratching himself with a vacant look in his eye. This was typical Warrior behavior, they were battle addicts, and little interest in pleasantries.

As Dem turned back to look at Officer Sumisi, she spoke again.

“Didn’t you say you had two beasts? Where is the other one?”

Dem smiled, and spoke, “Ina, show yourself, please.”

Behind Graf, a shadow rose and climbed up his back. Ina appeared then, standing on Graf’s shoulders, her tails twisting in patterns that caused most of the soldiers to look away. The reaction, despite their averted eyes, was immediate. Surprise and fear registered across their faces. Several even drew bare steel, before they realized this was Dem’s beast and therefore not likely to attack.

Sumisi looked surprised, and then had an oddly heated gaze crossed her face as she looked at Dem. Her face slightly red, she spoke then, confusion suffusing her voice,

“You.. Is that what I think that is? All those tails..”

Sergeant Wehern spoke up, “Ma’am it is a Many-Tailed, a predator beastwoman.”

Dem noted the emphasis on the word ‘predator’ in the Sergeant’s words. There was a difference between more benign beasts and those that were designated specifically as man-killers. A boar beast might kill you for entering its territory, or just looking at it funny, but a true man-killer hunted humans actively, even outside its territory. Ina had always been too small and weak to be a real threat, but as a beastwoman, in the greater beast realm, he supposed she was a true threat now. He couldn’t make sense of the man’s emphasis otherwise.

“Demneh, keep that thing on a short leash. You will be responsible for anyone or anything she eats!” Sumisi sounded almost exasperated at this turn of events.

Dem was a little hurt, hearing Ina called a ‘thing’, but he didn’t need to pick a fight over it. Fear was a natural response to a predator.

Dem answered Sumisi with a faux grimace, “Her name is Ina, and while she is something of a eater, she doesn’t people, mostly.” He laughed then, at their discomfort.

A female soldier in the back tried to speak up, before being silenced by a another soldier, “So you and her fu-”

He could hear the soldier who did the silencing whisper to female soldier who spoke up, “Do you want to be eaten? Don’t ask about that.” Dem ignored the question, it was going to be standard response to any Tamer most people came across he supposed.

“Officer, if you would lead the way, we have a beastman to speak with don’t we?” Dem said, trying to keep the conversation moving along.

Sumisi shook her head, to clear her thoughts, and then waved him toward her. Together they strode forward toward the hiveling through the encampment, soldiers parting for them and stopping to stare. Dem supposed they looked like a strange sight. The long-haired officer led their strange little party, with the young-looking Tamer following behind her, and two beasts following the Tamer. Ina was crouching on Graf’s shoulder, seeming to enjoy her new roost. Dem thought even Graf looked a little wary having the beastwoman so close.