227. Mandrills: Wiremu.

“I bet Tabitha will call these monkeys,” I said to Rodion.

“I am not taking that bet,” he replied. “Although she might call them Baboons. The Mandrills are very distinctive, though, with the red and blue skin on their faces, surely she would know.”

“Want to take that bet?”

He shook his head. We had been out setting traps in the early evening. I was teaching Rodion the trapping skill. It is a useful skill to have, even though he was never going to be strong in it. He had a growing pack to feed. Apparently, one of his bitches was pregnant, but still in the early days. We had come across this large family of Madrills all on the move toward the city. Mandrills can be very aggressive, but only if you invade their territory. This was a very large group of several hundred, obviously angry and on the move. Mandrills are ground-based primates, like baboons. They might sleep in trees, but they live on the ground.

Rodion had sent some of his dogs to backtrack the Mandrills to see if a larger predator had driven them from their territory. With a group this large, it would have to be a monster. Rodion and I tracked alongside them.

I took to the trees. Darkness was falling, and at the rate the Mandrills were travelling, it would be after midnight before they hit the city if they kept in the same direction. Could I redirect them? Did I want to? The answer to that would depend on what is moving them. I had several hours to find out, and they may stop on their own.

The Mandrills were moving along the ground, so Tāoke and I had the trees to ourselves with all the other creatures who got out of their way. I went higher, and the sky had patchy clouds. I caught sight of a small Jungle Owlet darting along the tops of the trees. They were native to the area, but they would generally hide with the racket going on below. My second look identified this as a bond. Now we are getting somewhere. I got a Hunter's Mark on it and veered away, so I didn’t alert it to my presence.

I was kind of hoping this would be a bond from the Avion Mercenary team that attacked us, but that was not likely. It could be a Jungle Ranger trying to figure out what is happening like us. It could be a regular hunter or part of whatever is moving the mandrills. I kept high in the trees and watched for other bonds.

In the next hour, I Marked five other bonds, all birds of different species. Two of them had the same bond flavour, meaning they had the same Sapient in their bond. This meant it was almost certainly an Avion, as Animalkin had advantages when bonding with species that were close to them. The obvious example was Rodion, a wolfkin, bonding with his pack of wild dogs. I couldn’t have done it. I so hope it is the same mercenary group. Modrica and I have a debt to settle. I want another go at the wyvern.

After the attack, I researched wyverns at the Lore Society, and there were several recorded variants. The green fire was a giveaway as to which one had attacked us. As I had surmised, the green fire was not really fire but a spiritually enhanced acid spray that ignites when it comes in contact with air. Acid fire with high Spirituality. The spiritual component apparently helps bypass resistance. I am really curious about the nature of the bond between the wyvern and the Avion. That won’t stop me from killing them, though.

I stopped at the top of a tree and scanned the sky for Avions. I couldn’t see any, but they might just be gliding and watching things through their bonds. I dropped down to Rodion again.

“Do you think we should try to turn them?” I asked.

“Do you think we can?”

“Probably not, and it will just alert the watchers to our presence.”

“The Mandrills won’t really do much damage to anything, so let's watch it play out and see if we can ambush the watchers,” Rodion said.

“Which makes me wonder as to what the purpose of this is.”

“It does seem like a lot of effort for little damage.”

“Therefore, damage is not their goal. So what is?”

“Cause confusion to pull off an assassination or heist or something?

I shrugged, “Maybe. I will run ahead and watch from the walls. I will leave you spikes to climb up on the southeastern corner.”

I got a thumbs-up for that. He was still waiting for some of his dogs to catch up.

When I reached the wall, I scaled it using Granite Spikes and left them in place. The guard heard a lot of noise from the Jungle but had not identified a threat yet. They were alert, anyway. I found a good spot to see over most of the city, went into camouflage, and readied my bow.

I used my Telescopic Sight to watch the guards, and I could see the Duke’s mansion on the escarpment above the city. I zoomed in on various windows to see if anybody was watching from there. I would have some guards with Farsight on watch from there, but I couldn’t see any. I looked at the sections of the city wall I could see, and the guards were alert and watching the noise approach, but I guess most of the noise was muffled from the city by the wall.

The Madrills hit the gate and climbed the wall. The enchantments on the wall threw some off and sounded an alarm, prompting the guards to ring the alarm bells. Tāoke decided to slither off and go hunting. I turned my attention to the sky. Where were our watchers? I started with the birds with my Hunters Marks. They were flying into the city. Then I searched for Avions. I knew there was at least one around. I caught a flash of wings and discovered a weakness in Telescopic Sight. Fast-moving objects move out of range of it very fast as Telescopic Sight zooms in on a small area. I zoomed out so it was barely more than Farsight and searched the sky again.

It took me quite a while to find the flyers. The cloud cover was increasing. That was good in it would make them fly lower, but the patchy cloud obscured my vision. The first Avion I got a good look at seemed to come from an Owl kin. It would make sense if they were here to observe. I was interrupted by a rogue Mandrill climbing the granite spikes I had left. I put an arrow Imbued with Poison in him, then readied another arrow. I have to be careful with Puia here. Everything was made of wood. While everything was also wet, that was no guarantee against lava.

My sky-watching suddenly paid off when I caught a glimpse of a feather pattern I recognised. The Avion disappeared behind the cloud before I could verify it, but I am sure they were present at the attack on Modrica in Kirghiz. I kept searching. I found him again and followed him with my Telescopic Sight and my Marksman Skill. The Marksman Skill didn’t just increase the range of my arrows. It was giving me a feel for the amount of lead I needed to aim for to have the arrow hit the moving target. That assumes the target stays on the same trajectory long enough for the arrow to reach. There are other variables as well, but my Thermal Sensing can give me an idea of wind speed and direction.

I followed him for a while, understanding his flying pattern. He stuck to one flight line when he was concentrating, either through his bond or looking at something in particular. I readied the arrow, steadied my breathing, and Imbued Poison to the arrowhead. When he spotted something on the ground, I released the arrow and watched. I knew I would be lucky to get a hit on the first try, but I felt lucky today.

The arrow flew true. I had aimed for the centre of mass to maximise my chances, and I am sure it struck his heart. Avion have very light bones in order to help them fly, but that means they break easily. He fell from the sky, and I watched to see where he would fall.

One of the bonds I had the Hunters Mark on suddenly went crazy and flew directly toward the Avion. I didn’t have another arrow ready, so I lined up a Poison Arrow. The Falcon was fast but flying in a straight line. The arrow clipped his wing, but that was enough to get a killing load of poison in him, and he went down. I might as well take down some more now that I know who I am killing. I will leave a couple with the Mark to follow back to their nest.