556 Around, Not Through

“This does not bode well.” I said.

“What?” demanded Pale Ram, “What doesn’t bode well?”

I sent a group invite, shared my Beast Sense.

“So there’s only one.” she said.

“Is only one.” snickered a kobold.

“Health is orange.” whispered another.

<You ignore the children.> Pale Ram sent. <They won’t actually attack.>

<While I’ve never made a formal study, Kobolds don’t tend to honor treaties if they sense power shift.>

<Dick. This isn’t a power shift, it’s one of their cubs.>

.....

<Do you let your children wander far from the tribe?>

She shrugged. <If I had any. Let them go where they want; if get killed weren’t clever enough to survive, anyway.>

<Bears are not like goblins...>

But then I was interrupted.

<We have enough food.> the cub sent. <There is no passage through our lands at this time. Go around, not through.>

Male.

“You may need to tell your troops not to attack.” I said.

“They’re loyal to me.” she said. “They know to kill only what I tell them to.”

“Even the new ones?” I asked.

It was too little, too late.

With a yelp of victory, the rocks began to fly. Idiots. Young or not, it was a Gray Ursa.

It fled uphill; they followed.

“Gods DAMN it!” Grey Ram exclaimed.

“We need to not be between the ursa pack and the woods below.” I said, moving rapidly northward.

“NO YOU DON’T!” she screamed. “I AM THE SERGEANT! I. Am in charge.”

I let out a breath, spread my hands to indicate helplessness.

“You. Are going to negotiate peace.” she said.

“I am not that stupid.” I said. “When we came through, there were six adult mothers and four adult males.”

“And so what?”

“The mother bears have more votes, more influence on the actions of that tribe.”

As if to punctuate my point, a series of roars came from uphill.

“They let him get within sending range of the pack.” I said.

She squinted. “Not unless they...”

historical

“Oh.”

She rubbed her long nose. “They were ready for this to happen.”

“Or they wanted this to happen.” I said.

“My troops are damage rating five with their unarmed attacks.” she said. “That’s only twelve base, but they get a LOT of criticals.”

“On humans.” I said. “Trust me, fighting the Awakened is nothing like that.”

She snorted again. “Not with their health bars that low.”

The sound of roaring, of laughing kobolds, of stone shattering on stone reached us.

“This won’t take long.” she said.

I caught myself grinding my teeth, and stopped. “No. No, it won’t take long at all.”

A piece of rock about the size of my head came tumbling down the hill.

“Ha!” she said. “And here you were worried about rocks of that size?”

“Not even remotely.” I said, as the cries of victory changed into something more primal.

“Dicks.” she said. “They outnumber the ursa two to one, and they feel the need to...

A severed kobold head took to the air, struck the slope, and rolled to a stop where we could barely see it.

“No.” she said. “My troops are smarter than that.”

“Sergeant.” I said. “We need to move south. Now.”

“You wanted to rush north less than a minute ago.”

I shook my head. “It’s too late for that now. If we stay here, they will see us. Along their path of descent. In their way.”

“Even gray ursa prefer peace.” she said.

I began moving. “I cannot save you from yourself.” I said. “I’m moving. I’m moving NOW.”

With a litany of curses that would do any soldier proud, she rushed to follow.

There had been silence for over two minutes.

“Are we clear?” she asked, pulling her bow, already strung, from her inventory.

“Sergeant.” I said, as the shadow rose from a nearby boulder, blocking me from direct sunlight.

She didn’t need the rest of the words. The bow vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

<We were walking with those kobolds.> I admitted. <But we are not part of this recent carnage. That they did against our orders.>

There was a grinding noise, and then the boulder was thrown over my head. <Ask me.> she said. <Ask me if I care whether you are to blame,>

I turned my head to face her. <Before your claws, mine are tiny. Ineffective.> I replied. <My fight is against hobgoblins. Upright walkers. Not the Ursa.>

I took note of the deep red staining around her mouth. Her pack did seem, indeed, to have plenty of fresh meat.

<Mother. > came a smaller voice, also female. Weaker, but clear. <Elder Brother, your son, is not in danger. Please calm down. None of the invaders will leave our territory alive.>

<This. > she sent to us, instead. <This today is why we can never trust kobolds. Return to them, let them know...>

<Like hell we will.> sent Pale Ram. <I’m done with kobolds. Even goblins have more common sense.>

<Does she speak the truth?> Mother asked. <Do you, Truthspeaker, also say this?>

I shook my head, sent [Regret]. <I cannot swear this, Mother Ursa.>

She plopped her butt down, as though the sloped earth wasn’t a treacherous seat. <In that case, it is time again to teach the kobolds why they live down there, while we are up here. I call upon you Witness.>

<We don’t owe you a kindness.> Pale Ram sent.

Mother Bear looked at me.

<I have been herald before.> I said. <The Ursa are never the least of folk. By ancient words, I am bound. will do this thing.>

“Gutless wimp!” Pale Ram accused. “You could have negotiated a price.”

I shook my head. “That negotiation was done before I was born into this world. There is no price, there is only duty.” I set about trying to find a stable yet mostly level rock.

I tried.

In the end, I settled for a gently sloped rock without sharp edges as might cut me.

“What are you DOING?” Pale Ram asked.

“I am serving as Witness.” I said. “I am serving as Observer. I am serving as Herald, as messenger. What they mean to do, they mean to have remembered.”

“There are hundreds down there.” she said. “The ursa are a dozen and a half, not counting their wounds.”

I rubbed the heel of my palms against my eyelids. “Among my Shaman duties, as well as Truthspeaker, I must do this. If you want to start circling the mountain, I will meet you on the other side.”

She sat down on a rocky outcropping near mine. “I guess I have snack foods.”

No kobolds came forth from the forest to attack the ursa; no ursa entered the wood with the purpose of engaging the kobolds. With deliberate purpse, they knocked over trees, rolling them sideways to break free their roots. From south to north, three trees deep, they did this.

When the effort was done, the edge of the woods was two ursa lengths further west than it had begun that morning.

.....

“Well,” Pale Ram said, “That was a thing that happened.”

“A gentler reminder than the one I’d been expecting.” I said.

“We don’t have time to wait until after dusk.” she decided. “Once they get their fuzzy butts back up here, we say our goodbyes, and get back to the Glory.”

And so it was. <1 >

We circled around the hill, descending a bit. She might have had the name, but Pale Ram was not so agile as to make it around the hill’s waist.

We had set up camp before she spoke to me again.

“You tried to save those kobolds. Why? You yourself said we can’t save people from themselves.”

“Those who can ask not to be eaten should not be.” I said. “It’s a waste of life that gains nothing and costs us troops.”

“Heh.” she said, hawking a load of mucus downwind. “It means we’re going to have to use stealth to get back inside the wall.”

“If there is still a wall.” I said. “With those new engines, who knows what they’ve done in two days?”

“Who cares?” she asked. “Not me, that’s who. I’m getting some sleep. So you’re on watch.”

“Two hours watch, or four?” I asked.

“Don’t be a dolt.” she said. “Watches change whenever I wake up. Or whenever the kobolds choose to send reinforcements.”

I stared off, south by southwest. “It doesn’t seem likely.”

“Well,” she said, “then don’t wake me.”

The next day, we saw the walls of Rakkal’s Glory. Not unbroken, but not breached, either. The invaders were tearing up peasant housing to replace shattered siege engines. The day after that, we were inside the walls.

I tried to sleep in, but the need to hot-cot, or rotate cots between soldiers, defeated that as surely as if I’d been sleeping where the sun could reach my eyes.

“So what happens now?” I asked.

“Now,” she said, “we get us some elite archers. Still enemy out in the foothills. You should get some sleep, get back into nocturnal mode.”

But the enemy didn’t give us that kind of time.

<1 > I don’t know if the kobolds emerged from their wooded hill that night or not. What I can say is that the last I had heard, both ursa and kobold were still sharing that area.