Chapter 5:

Markus was troubled. Everything had started off normal enough. They were on a routine patrol through a remote part of the forest near Drakenburg. Looking for medical herbs, checking the wildlife populations, making sure that no magical Beasts had set up shop that would overthrow the balance of the forest.

That changed quickly, first they noticed that there were just too many uncommon herbs here. This part of the forest was quite a bit out of the way but herbalists and adventurers still ventured here every once in a while to look for Caarsi berries and other rare herbs.

Then they were set upon by a small pack of Silver-toed Lynx which shouldn’t even be in this part of the forest. Elana was taken out before they even realized what had happened and he suffered a deep wound to his right shoulder making sure she wasn’t killed outright. Looking at their opponents these Lynx were larger than should be expected as well. Unfortunately larger often meant faster and stronger with these creatures.

Things only went from bad to worse after that. The largest of this pack was more than a match for the captain of their adventurer partners. The other two didn’t seem to be much smaller either, one of them being enough for Mike and Scott while Steve supported the captain against the largest. It quickly became apparent that they may be wiped out.

He fought his hardest to keep the last lynx away from Trish as she treated Elana, but with his dominant arm already lying uselessly down his side he couldn’t last long. Trish could of course put up a barrier, but that would only prolong the inevitable. Just as he thought the tides were about to turn to the point of no return, it happened.

A man wearing nothing but, well not a loincloth but close enough, appeared in front of the two women and PUNCHED the lynx sending it flying. He dashed after it and continued to trade blows with the beast quickly gaining the upper hand.

The speed and control with which the stranger fought was both astounding and concerning to Markus. He was easily as fast as some of the knights back in the city. And from the sound of the impacts as he fought with the Silver-toed Lynx, probably just as strong. Markus should have been aware of anyone this strong within the territory but he had never seen or heard of this man before. And he was sure that some rumors of this man would have made it around. He was very distinctive looking with his black hair and white highlights.

With the intervention of the stranger and a good shot from Steve the tides quickly turned and the Lynx were put on the defensive. Their group were able to retreat and luckily it seemed the conflict was over. The lynx found them more risk than the reward was worth. Then the stranger seemingly vanished into thin air. Markus panicked for half a second before spreading out his senses. Luckily it seemed the stranger did not have any real control over their mana or at least did not see the need to rein it in. Which was both a blessing, and terrifying.

He really hoped this was just a fortuitous encounter, and not the beginning of an even bigger issue. He had heard through the grapevine that some less than upstanding groups were making moves against the Margrave. By extent they may try to use Elana as a game piece in their plan. Everyone knew how the Margrave’s daughter would react if Elana was kidnapped. Therefore, the Margrave had tasked him with keeping watch over her. Not that she or the party were fully aware of it. And right now, if this stranger was actually targeting Elana he wasn’t convinced they’d be able to do anything about it. But then if he was targeting Elana why save them? He could have left them to the Lynx and made off with her.

Now they were following this stranger to Goddess knows where.

Markus was pulled out of his thoughts as the stranger's hand shot up, halting the party. A look of frustration passed over his face as his mouth opened and closed multiple times as if he wasn’t sure exactly what to say.

“Creatures ahead. We should go around.”

The man’s pronunciation was good so Markus was confused why he was speaking in such a clipped way. Almost as if he was afraid they wouldn’t understand him. Following the man’s declaration they started circling around the direction they were originally heading. Markus sent out his senses again to see if he could spot what the man was talking about. He was starting to get suspicious, not that they had any idea where the man was taking them, when after almost 5 minutes of travel he still hadn’t found anything nearby. It wasn’t until after another minute of travel something had finally come inside his range.

“Igova!” He silently exclaimed.

The stranger sent him a scathing look and brought his finger to his lips as if silencing him. This stunned Markus again. He was able to hear that? He knew of some experts who had keen senses but he had barely even vocalized that. It was as if the stranger was an Elf or Prowlisi. However, even with his long hair his ears would have been easily spotted if he was an elf so that was out of the question, and Markus didn’t think he could hide a tail in those shorts. Plus Prowlisi tended to have Cat-like ears, not human.

Still, the Igova was concerning. And he could understand the man’s look, the creatures had good hearing. And their group was traveling with injured. But as long as you didn’t try to approach their eggs you’d be fine. On their own the creatures weren’t a big threat. They didn’t attack people and weren’t very territorial. The issue was that they ate a ton of food, sometimes to the point of causing food shortages, and were the favorite meal of many much more dangerous Beasts.

This has to be reported back to the Margrave. A much more competent team needs to be dispatched to this area to give it a new danger rating. Bounties are going to be needed for the Igova as well. Let’s just hope there are no Arch Igova in this area yet.

Markus was brought out of his thoughts once again by the stranger as he raised his hand up and their group paused. The stranger then took off in a new direction. This happened two more times during their journey and Markus was getting even more impressed yet suspicious of the man, and startled by what his senses were telling him. Silver-toed Lynx, Igova, Wind-saber wolves. These Beasts shouldn't be in this part of the forest. Just what in the world happened here.

He hoped Elana would recover soon. Even if it wasn’t all of them, someone needed to head back and tell the Margrave as soon as possible, otherwise they would likely be having a lot of dead hunters soon.

They traveled for another 5 minute and Markus noticed that the stranger appeared to relax.

“We are close” The stranger stated.

Markus was greeted with another shocking sight. I’m going to die from a heart attack at this rate. He laughed inwardly at his own morbid thought. All around them the underbrush was gone, the forest floor looked like the manicured grass inside a large garden. The trees are getting taller as well.

The stranger seemed to fully relax now and Markus was left with one main thought in his head.

Just what in the hell happened around here?

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They were just coming upon the berry bushes that were outside the beginnings of the Grove, but their group was slowing down. The older man for all his boasting was on his last legs. His face was pale and ghastly looking. He wobbled as he walked as if he couldn't quite keep his balance. However, if you looked at his eyes they still had that spark of intelligence, as if even in this condition, his mind was whirling with ideas. Likely lost too much blood. I’m surprised he’s even conscious, his wounds still bleed by the looks of those bandages. Thomas truly was impressed by the man's fortitude. They had been traveling for about half an hour at this point and he had no idea how long ago the man injured his shoulder.

On the other hand the man named Scott was faring better. His face wasn’t nearly as pale and ghastly looking as the older man’s. However he was limping something fierce on his injured leg. Thomas wondered if it was just the muscle in his calf that was damaged or if the Lynx had also broken his bone. Either way Thomas was sure that both would be happy to rest once they arrived at the Grove.

Pausing for a second Thomas reached out his senses, checking for anything around. He once again got that now familiar sensation of feedback coming to him. It didn’t say that no one was around but rather told him that only those he was currently leading were in his vicinity. He definitely had a much keener sense of smell and hearing than he used to, with both senses surprising him at times, and had used them to find wildlife that his vision was unable. Over longer distances than with whatever this extra sense he had, was able to. But he had come to rely on the ability a lot over the last two years, and he was pretty sure it had saved his life on more than one occasion. He had no idea how it worked but was thankful nonetheless for it.

“We are close” he stated.

While none of the party opening made a sigh of relief he could feel all of them just relax a bit. A weight taken off their shoulders. As they made it to the edge of the Outer Grove, as he had started calling the area that was devoid of underbrush, he was finally able to relax. To this day he had still never been attacked within the Grove. The surrounding wildlife would enter this area but rarely did any of the main predators, and they had never attacked him or anything else when he saw them.

They were now coming upon the main Grove. He was slightly worried about taking the group here. He was almost sure this place was magical in some way, and usually magical places had magical treasures. He didn’t know what he’d do if they decided that the Grove Tree was something that they wanted to pillage. But the idea of damaging that central tree did not sit well with him. Never thought I’d be a tree hugger. That got a quiet chortle out of him.

As they entered the main grove he heard the entire party gasp.

“Beautiful” the Caretaker exclaimed in stunned amazement before heading deeper into the Grove.

Thomas had to agree, even to this day the view of the Grove and especially the Grove Tree was incredible. Like nothing he had ever seen.

“A Spirit’s Grove?” Markus haltingly questioned.

“A Spirit’s Grove! Are you sure Markus!?” The Captain blurted. Thomas wasn’t sure how to take that reaction.

“We can worry about that later!” The Caretaker cut in. “Mike, Steve bring Elana over here. Markus get your ass over here and lay down. You are in no shape to be moving around right now. Scott you too! Captain, can you get the bedrolls out of the packs please?” The woman began giving orders.

The party quickly moved into action to accomplish the tasks that the woman had given them. Thomas observed them as they worked, not quite sure what to do. He thought it best that he didn’t immediately get involved, he had no medical training and doubted he’d be much help with unpacking any of their things.

“Got um Trish” The captain said, jogging towards the woman, a bundle of cloth in his hands.

“Good, set them up over there. How’s our food situation looking?”

“Not great but not horrible” the man grunted. “We lost Elana’s and Markus’s packs which had a little over a quarter of our food in them. So we have a couple of days worth but we’ll need to scavenge pretty soon. Luckily we are good water wise, Scott was carrying that and he still has his pack”

Well that sure sounded like something Thomas could do. He quickly went over to his little stash area and grabbed a handful of the berries. He used the old plastic, now turned bark bag almost as a bowl, and returned to the group. Seeing as the woman had taken charge he caught her eye as he approached.

“Hmm? What have ya got there?” Trish called as he neared them.

Thomas tilted the bowl like-container, showing the berries inside.

“Caarsi berries!” Surprise and joy crossed the woman’s face in equal measure. “Oh this is perfect!” The woman grabbed her pack opening it and shuffling through the inside. Thomas could see that it was full of all kinds of herbs, berries and leafs. “If I combine those with this, and make a poultice then…” The woman appeared to be completely in her own world now. Thomas just kind of awkwardly stood there for a few second before shrugging and putting the bark bowl on the ground next to her.

If she was also going to be able to use them in medicine then it sounded like a good idea to go get more. But first Thomas was thirsty, so he headed in the direction of the pond. As he walked to the pond he found that his legs were incredibly sore. I know I’ve traveled a lot today, but I’ve had harder days than this before and my legs were never this sore.

Looking at himself in the reflection of the pond still caused some discomfort. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the first time but seeing a completely different reflection even after all these years still just didn’t feel right. When he looked at the reflection it was like he wasn’t looking at ‘Thomas’ but rather at an entirely different person. Not wanting to dwell on the topic he quickly drank his fill and headed in the direction of the berry bushes.

Passing through the Grove he saw that the Trish was currently mashing something, he assumed some of the now named Caarsi berries, in a pestle and mortar. The three injured were all laying on bedrolls close by, some sporting new bandages. The Captain wandered around the Grove looking slightly lost on the other hand.

A chill ran down Thomas’s spine as he saw the woman take the blue berry out of the bowl. It still amazed him that the berry hadn’t rotted by now, but he just chocked that up to the Magic of the Grove. How did that get in there!? He took off hoping he could stop her in time. I’m not sure exactly what she’s doing but I’m guessing that adding poison into a poultice isn’t a good idea. He noticed the Captain out of the corner of his eye dashing in his direction. The woman seemed to be entirely engrossed in what she was doing as she didn’t seem to notice the commotion. Come on almost there!

“Wait!” He shouted.

Her arm came down to grind the berry. His hand shot out catching her wrist just before pestle met mortar.

“ow!” She jumped with a start as her arm was yanked back.

“Unhand her!” Cold steel pressed against Thomas’s shoulder.

Thomas quickly let go of her wrist, sure that she wouldn’t try to mash the poisonous berry this instant. The woman began cradling the area and Thomas could see finger-like imprints on her skin, the area reddening. The pressure on his shoulder however, did not lessen.

“Now what was that about?”

“One of the berries she was about to use is poisonous. At least I believe so.” Guess now is as good a time as any to see whether they truly understand me.

“But these are all Caarsi berries?” the Caretaker cut in tilting her head “None of these are poisonous?”

Relief flooded Thomas as it seemed they understood what he was talking about. “I do not know what a Caarsi berry is, but to my knowledge the blue ones are. When I first found the bush of them, there was a small rabbit-like creature eating from it. However, that creature was purposely passing by all the blue ones.”

“A rabbit-like creature you say? Can you tell us more details on that please.” Markus cut in from his bedroll half sitting up to look at the group.

“Oh no you don’t. Lay back down! You are in no condition to be moving right now Markus” the Caretaker quickly admonished him. Or maybe Herbalist is a better name for her? Healer?

“Easily, I still remember that day like it was yesterday. Though I’m surprised I don’t see them around very often anymore…” Thomas half mumbled the second half to himself. “For the most part the creature looked like a normal rabbit, it came up to about my shins height wise and had light gray fur. The most distinctive quality of it was definitely the spiral horns on its head. The one near the berry bush had small ones that looked as if they were just sprouting but I have seen others with bigger sets…” Thomas trailed off as the caretaker and Markus were staring at him slack-jawed. Though it appeared for different reasons.

“Choradin Hare!” gasped Markus.

“A what?” the Herbalist asked.

“Choradin Hare. A rare species of Magic Beast that lives in mana dense areas, it mostly eats mana rich plants. The Caarsi berry being one of its favorites.”

“But why would that make…” The Herbalist trailed off looking at Thomas “Our friend here think that one of these berries is poisoned?”

“That is the question I’d like to know.” The Captain gruffly added putting a bit more pressure on the flat of his blade that was resting on Thomas’s shoulder.

Thomas could feel his annoyance growing as he was still being threatened even though he was just trying to help them. “And I would like to know when you will be moving your sword or would you like me to move it for you?” He spat anger lacing his voice.

The Grove grew quiet as the other party members seemed to notice once again that they currently had the stranger on his knees at sword point. A stranger that had single-handedly fought off a Silver-toed Lynx unarmed and unarmored. Thomas’s anger kept growing as he realized that the Captain appeared to have no intention of removing his sword. In his enraged state he didn’t notice that Markus was growing tenser and tenser.

“Put your sword away Smith!” Markus ordered.

“Wha… what? He attacked Trish!” The Captain responded but seemed to falter at the outburst.

“Attacked seems like a bit of a stretch. Plus we now know why he stopped her! Now put away your sword!” Markus shot the man a glare now and began to stand up again.

“It’s fine Smith, I am fine. He was just doing what he thought was necessary.” Trish added.

The Captain finally relented and slowly removed his sword from Thomas’s shoulder. He did not sheath it however. Thomas quickly stood up and stalked out the Grove. His anger wasn’t dissipating but rather appeared to be rising still.

Once outside the grove he headed in the direction of the berry bushes. If nothing else he would need more food he told himself. He kept traveling and as he made it further from the Grove his anger began to simmer down. I have never had anger management issues before, so what the heck is going on? That was disconcerting. Part of me wanted to destroy that man, and for what? Because he was threatening me? Thomas thought about the question while he walked to the berry bushes. That didn’t feel like it was the correct answer. He had been threatened by other beings in the past. Not sapient beings or at least not ones that he could communicate with but the threat didn’t appear to be the issue in this case.

Anyway I’m going to assume this is some kind of instinct from this body or something. I’ll need to be wary of something similar in the future. That could have become an even bigger disaster then it ended up being.