Eli POV

_____________________________________________

The grey-furred beasts were tearing into the dead horse of the carriage. A few of them were trying to get into the carriage but the driver, a friar from the church who seemed to be a few inches shorter than me, was managing to hold them off with what looked like a sturdy walking stick. Even with the light fading, I could see he got one or two good swings in. Every time one of the beasts drew near, a chorus of hysterical cries would ring out from inside the cloth canvas.

When one of the wolves managed to grab the friars' staff and pull him off the carriage, it occurred to me that I might not want to hide my presence in the grove. As one of the wolves jumped over his body and into the carriage a new plan, one that satisfied both my conscience and my tactical needs, suggested that being totally unnoticed may not be the preferred solution to my bandit problem.

I plunged forward and slammed a pillar of summoned rock into one of the wolves biting into the man, crushing its head. The other 4 shirked back for one crucial second, giving me enough time to activate the fire function on my deer skull helmet.

The scorching lines of fire cut three of the wolves down in an instant with one sideways movement of my head. The third wolf and the two feasting on the horse scurried off in terror from this new foe. The sound of tearing flesh inside the carriage prompted me to let them go. Coming into the carriage, the carriage canopy further obscured the faint light but I did see three small girls in plain brown dresses, two with brown hair cowering in fear near the back and one blond who was currently having her arm chewed off by the starving wolf.

I quickly shot a stone bullet into the beast's flank. It dropped the poor girl onto the wooden floor, but not as quickly as the wooden hand shot out from my web of vines and shoved a serrated blade into the throat of the beast. I had been trying to aim for the eye but the new 'limbs' were still a chore to use with any kind of real proficiency.

The three girls cried out hysterically, even the blond who was clutching at her torn arm that looked like it was only barely attached to her as the wound shot blood all over her and the carriage floor. I moved forward and quickly used a healing spell on her as I held her in my lap. The torn flesh slowly mended itself, even so, the blood loss was leaving the poor girl woozy as she feebly struggled to get away from me.

Eventually, she calmed down when the warmth of the healing spell flooded her body and the bloody flesh of her arm restitched itself back together, soon followed by the gradual growth of the outer skin, now pale as any cave dwellers. I put up my hand for them to stay put while I checked on the man.

He had a nasty bite mark on his shoulder, but worst of all was a deep gash on his forehead. I used my healing spell on him to stop the bleeding but I wasn't about to bring him back into the land of the waking before I needed a minute before I had the energy to fully heal him. I didn't have a lot of options for this situation so I picked him up and laid him in the carriage. Looking at him now, I remembered his face. His black short beard and pointed nose with his bowl hair cut reminded me of my time in the church and all of its odd bits. The man's name still eluded me though, B-something if I remember right.

My time in the grove was only going to last a few more days if I didn't want to the staff at the academy probing my activities to explain my prolonged, unexplained absence, but this operation wasn't going to be the days-long excursion I had been hoping for. As I mentally consigned my self to the long haul I had come up with another plan of attack, one that would mean I didn't need to be worried about the friar or the girls spreading rumors about some weird vine man-creature. It would actually work to my benefit if the bandits kept their attention on protecting themselves here instead of the larger battlefield in the southern part of the grove that I was going to be doing more work in.

Long term, I didn't want them turtling up in the fortress, but if they did that for just one or two weeks, it would make my job in the southern section a lot easier as they spent precious time and manpower protecting against a threat long gone and god knows they wouldn't lack for orcs to blame when things started going wrong down there.

What I was worried about right now was essentially leaving the kids to die in this godforsaken land with no means of getting back home. But when I started thinking over who I had found the little girls with, my stomach clenched as another possibility presented itself.

Looking over to the girls I gave a light cough and tried to deepen my voice.

"So, where are your parents? I'm sure they'll be eager to get you back." I said in a reassuring voice.

They looked at each other for a bit before one of the brown-haired girls spoke up, her green eyes shimmered with her remaining tears.

"We don't 'ave any parents...sir. We was going along with the man on account of the urgent matter with them witches." She said hesitantly.

Shit. So, that's what I've stumbled into.

Looking around the ever-darkening woods, I made the decision to take the kids back to my camp. I didn't know what to do with the friar yet but leaving the kids behind wasn't an option.

"All right kids, I got a place for you to hide for a while." I offered as I made my way out of the carriage after covering the friar in a stone shield. The half-sphere covered him enough that the wolves couldn't get at him but the man could still wiggle out of it if he woke up.

The girls seemed very hesitant to take up my offer, but the growing pool of blood from the dead wolf and the smaller pool of blood from the blond girl seemed to help make the decision easier. Once out in the open, the two brown haired girls were gradually shimmied up onto my back and fastened with vines while I had to sling the blond-haired child in one of my wooden arms. The jumps had to be a lot more conservative with the three passengers on my person but it was still enough to make two of them cry out in terror, while the brown-haired girl with amber eyes on the right side of my back whooped with excitement.

Since the jumps weren't as high, we weren't actually too cold when we finally arrived at the cave. After getting down the girls looked around for the destination in confusion.

"Look, I know it's not much but it's what we have to work with," I said as I let the blond down to stand on her now slightly sturdier feet.

A dubious look passed between the girls as they talked in unspoken conversation.

"If I wanted to see you dead, I would have just kept walking," I said plainly as I walked inside with a flame in my right hand to light the way.

It took a few more seconds but once the more adventurous girl went inside, the two other followed. When I opened the door to my little room buried in the wall, they looked inside quickly but when they saw the sack with some crackers in the back right corner, they all rushed into the feast.

I suppose they needed their sustenance so I just shook my head. Besides, my mind was already working over the best way to get the Maw gangs' attention. It needed the right balance of devastation but also quick enough that I was long gone before they started sending squads of mages to investigate.

"All right kids, I'll leave this door closed if none of you have to relieve yourselves. Once I deal with the gentleman who was transporting you, I'll come back and we can see about getting you somewhere more... safe. Ok?" I said in as calm a tone as possible, as I went over my mental map of the local area.

"Ughff gches" One of the brown-haired girls started saying as she chewed on a cracker. After swallowing and taking a swig from a wineskin filled with water, she resumed her previous attempt at speech.

"But what about the witches?" She asked.

I moved forward and patted her head.

"Look, you're safe now. Let me deal with all the unpleasant stuff and enjoy your food," I said reassuringly as I mentally sorted through my class schedule to see what days would be best to alternate my attacks in the south.

"Ow, my stomach hurts" The blond moaned.

"Chew then swallow," I said light-heartedly as I rubbed her head as well.

"There are some blankets in the sack in the corner if I get back too late. Once I get back we can go over places that I could take you to, but I need to check up on the friar who was bringing you to Dunwich." I said absentmindedly as I put a bark piece whose flame I had been using for a lamp in the middle of the room for lighting. The light source cast shadows past the girls and illuminated the rough, dark stonework of the room.

"What about the other girl, sir? Did she get through ok?" The more timid brown-haired girl asked.

"Other girl?" I asked, turning my head away from the flame and looked at her green eyes shimmering with worry.

"There was a girl another friar took up ahead of us. Did they get through to Bunich?" She asked

I quickly made my way to the stone door.

"I don't know, but I will go check. Just make sure not to be too loud or who knows what passerby will hear you through the air vents I put in," I said before closing the door behind me.

Taking off into the dark woods of the night my mind continued along the same tracks of planning as I jumped through the high treetops back toward Dunwich. Stalking along the road, I found no one in the half-hour I had been going over all the paths.

'I guess I'll just have to wake the friar. He might be able to give me some information about what to expect in the church as far as security goes.' I thought idly.

Coming into the dark abandoned carriage I threw the stone sphere out of the carriage into the semi-darkness of the night. The friar was still out cold. I checked his pulse and sure enough, he was still among the living. But I couldn't afford to waste time so I quickly checked him for weapons and after I found nothing but a simple clear bottle, I used a water spell to wake him up. A splash and a few sputters later and he was awake.

He was laying on his side and looked around the carriage before he turned his head. His brown eyes went wide but he just lay there paralyzed with fear. It appears I will have to be the one to start this conversation, which is just as well considering the question I had for him.

"There was another girl that was sent to Dunwich before the other three. Where would they be keeping her?" I said in a calm, even tone.

"What about the three girls I had with me? Are they safe?" He asked eagerly, his face etched with a hint of worry.

"Quite safe but I'm asking the-"

Wait.

Why would a man killing children for being witches ask about their safety?

"Why ask about their safety? Being burned alive isn't very safe either." I retorted.

"Well, the safety of the parasite isn't what we are typically concerned about" He replied seemingly confused by my response.

"They're not parasites, they are people who deserve to live their lives free from persecution and not be killed for living their lives," I responded evenly as my fists clenched.

He gave me a blank look as his eyebrows scrunched together and his lips grew puckered. It took a long moment before he responded.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, clearly bewildered at the conversation.

"The girls," I said plainly.

"I'm talking about the parasite that is going to kill and mutate them if it isn't quickly removed" He responded in an almost panicked tone.

I stood there for a moment, going over what the girls had been saying. When the girls talked about the witches, it struck me that they had been talking about the witches in a distant, impersonal manner. As in not themselves. But I had been too distracted to pay attention to such seemingly small details.

Sweat started rolling down my back despite the cool night air.

"All right, stay here," I said as I prepared a stone cuff spell" I'll get the story from them and maybe-"

"There's no time" the friar responded as he pulled out the small bottle from his robe pocket as he made his way out of the carriage. "The only reason we risked coming out this late was that they were critical, late-stage cases. Depending on how quickly we move, we might be able to have them ingest this holy water to help paralyze the demon before it can do its foul work."

He looked around for a moment before I stepped in front of him.

"Just give it to me and I will get it to them," I said.

"Do you know all of the procedures for administering holy water to a patient?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, the underlying aspect of distrust was obvious even as it went unspoken.

"No. But I can get you there far faster than on foot. As long as you let me carry the bottle." I offered, not totally trusting him yet.

His beard crunched up with his face as he considered my proposal. After a few seconds, he sighed and handed me the bottle. When he put it in my right hand, my stomach did flips.

There was a part of me that really hoped he was just the world's best con man. That the girls had just used that particular language due to a lack of education and this was all just a mix of deception and bad grammar. But he wouldn't have handed over the only potential weapon he had if he was misleading me. My gut now told me that he wasn't lying and I didn't have the time to be paranoid about him finding my base that took only an hour to set up.

After a few seconds of getting the wooden arms to hold the friar in place, I managed to get him securely fastened on my back while taking special care to restrict his arms in the vines. I didn't even bother going high into the trees as I leaped through the forest floor with only the occasional faint beams of moonlight to light my way through the dark woods. But there were several unique large boulders and ravines that still guided me through my mental map of the woods to my destination.

All the while my ears pounded as my heart raced. The trip took no more than 10 minutes with him on my back but each second felt like an agonizing eternity that cruelly stretched on for as long as possible. When we finally got there I immediately wished to go back to those 10 minutes of eternity.

The first thing that I noticed, that anyone would notice, was the smell. The assault on my person hit like a wave of blood mixed with the sharp bite of ammonia. It had a hint of viciousness to it, like it knew its odor was one of the worst offenses to anything capable of detecting its presence and reveled in its barrage on my senses. The smell, if a force of this magnitude could be relegated to such a simple word, was so all-consuming even breathing through my mouth provided no relief as my eyes watered from the awful taste my tongue was registering.

From the cave entrance, I saw some movement as the friar tapped my shoulder to be let down. By the time I had let him down and handed him the bottle, the movement in the cave came forward into the faint light of the night and stood a good seven feet tall.

It had an elongated mouth like that of a goat above a pair of white balls for eyes and was colored like a newborn along with deep red veins running through its waxy skin. The only remanent of the girl it had been was the few faint bits of blond hair moving back and forth as it shuffled forward. I looked at its shoulders and sure enough, its right shoulder showed the same paleness of the girl I had healed. As it moved forward, its enlarged teeth clacked together appallingly with a constant grating noise. A tooth cracked and fell out only to be replaced with a new growing member from the gums.

But as I followed the discarded tooth I finally registered a sloshing sound and that was when my eyes fell upon the worst display of the demonic beast. Past the bony rib cage lay the stomach, swollen and engorged. It was split open horizontally and inside were several smaller versions of the thing with furless, goatish spawn writhing inside the stomach. They were covered in an odd clear slime but what stood out among them was the small white leg. It stuck out of the stomach and was being chewed on by the demons babies who moved and jousted inside their living home.

Then the thing opened its mouth and gave a roar. It was low pitched and warbled, with the heavy wet undertone of someone hacking phlegm. It charged us, moving on its two legs with considerable speed as it raised its clawed hands to rip into its next meal.

The friar ran backward while I hit it with a ball of flame from a spell. It barely even registered as it moved forward uncaringly. I activated my guns air pump which took precious seconds to fill the canister before it was ready to fire. Thinking quickly, I threw up an earth wall that managed to slow the thing down long enough as it crashed through it to get a shot in.

But between fighting my need to vomit and trying to keep moving backward the shot only took it in the left shoulder. Another wet roar and it tore the cracked wall fully down to lunge at me again. This time it got nearly two feet close before I sent out my vines to take the blows it tried to get in. It cut through the plants like tissue paper and barely gave me enough time to ready a combination of wind and fire spells.

Its head shot forward and gave a loud clack when the teeth of its mouth tried to reach in between my suit and helmet to get at the flesh of my neck. As the wet warmth of its foul breath spread across my face I finished the mana constructs and activated them in my right hand along with the laser-like flames from my helmet. The blaze of heat burned the beast and pushed back the foul smell but as the demon lunged back, seemingly more in pain than actually sustained damage, one of its spawn fell from its mother's womb and landed on my chest.

The small red thing gave a light screech before trying to burrow deeper into my vine suit, I could even feel the pressure from the vines on my chest as it pushed through. I quickly used my vine suit to crush its head, which stopped its movements. But there was no way in hell I was taking any chances by leaving it there. As I tried to get the vines to maneuver the slimy thing out of my suit, its mother's foot stomps made me look up.

As it moved back towards me, from my left I saw the small bottle of holy water fly towards the beast. A few drops landed among the dew of the nights' grass, but the rest of the bottle sailed true to its target. When the bottle landed inside the exposed stomach, the rest of the brood screeched while the demon clutched at its stomach futilely trying to get the holy water out of its stomach pouch.

Its task was hopeless though as bits of smoke started wafting from its skin and it cried out in pain as it clutched at its head. Not wasting the opportunity, I then shot it between the eyes. It fell down in a heap, but that wasn't nearly good enough for me. I prepared several wind and fire spells that shot out a great white flame. Using the vines to launch the corpse of the dead demon baby towards the rest of its dead brood, I continued to pour flames over the corpses.

It took a while for there to be nothing left but the bones of the dem-... the girls. These were innocent girls, not demons.

The bitter thought was all I could process as I burned the corpses, washing the white-hot flames over the body again and again in a back and forth motion. The writhing mass near the stomach produced a loud assortment of shrieks that went on for a while until the pile had been reduced to a mess of cinders and blackened bones.