Return of the Fallen Volume 9 Chapter 17
As the battle between beasts and men raged, Zephris needn’t stick around. He was near the top of a cliff above the Griffon’s caves. Looking out past the rocks, he could see a good deal of the forest. Down below, he could make out ant-like figures. It was the other soldiers who surrounded this place and were waiting to either capture him or meet up with the exiting other soldiers.
With Zephris’s trap, that reunion would not take place. Neither would these soldiers lying in wait ever catch him.
Standing at the edge of the cliff, the power of wind gathered around Zephris. With a strong leap, the boy took flight.
Just as the people down below appeared to be no more than the size of an ant in his eyes, so to did he appear as a tiny dot in the sky. Were they to even look up, it would merely seem as if a small bird were flying overhead. That’s how easy it was to evade these men and women.
He would have done this much sooner but he needed these people to follow after him. If they had even the tiniest inkling that he could take flight, they most likely would not have followed him up the rocky cliffs and would have probably just surrounded it in totality. Zephris couldn’t have that. He needed these people to believe that he was fairly helpless. That was why when he was hit in the torso by the Mages ice, he waited for them to be distracted and ran away instead of fighting then and there.
Even after his focus recovered and he could use magic, he still avoided using too much of it in front of them.
Landing in a tree a few miles away, Zephris could finally take a short breather, though as soon as he inhaled, he caught the stench of shit. He was still covered from head to toe in feces but he knew he still couldn’t wash it off.
Just as he was taking in his own disgustingness, the exact reason for keeping the dung on him occurred.
*ROAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!*
All at once, in every direction, the sound of beasts roaring in the Great forest rang out. Right after that, the sound of a stampede and the ground trembling followed. Several beasts spotted Zephris right away but with one sniff they simply rushed past them and ignored his nasty presence.
A few beasts became a few dozen and then a few dozen became hundreds. All of them were heading in one direction, the rocky cliffs. The moment the battle between the Griffons and the soldiers started, mass amounts of blood filled the air. This smell traveled for dozens of miles and in doing so, the predators in the surroundings took this to mean several prey were bleeding, were weak, and were therefore easy prey.
The moment these predators ran into one another, their instinct told them not to fight one another but to instead move even faster before the food ran out. A race of sorts played out as these predators rushed toward the enticing smell as fast as they could.
A few minutes after this stampeding occurred, out in the distance, the sounds of gut-wrenching screams and clashing came ringing in Zephris’s ear again and again. A cruel smile filled the young boy’s face but he still was not finished.
After taking a short break, the boy stood up on his already exhausted feet and began gathering ingredients for one final plan.
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Several hours passed and the sun was nearing its descent. A small stream stretching for who knows how long reflected the dying light. Just as the sun neared its final moments, around a hundred or so soldiers broke through the thick dense brush and several of them collapsed right there. Armor broken and bodies battered and bruised, covered in nasty injuries and globs of sticky dried blood, these soldiers had seen hell.
Seeing the sight of cool water, those that could still move, dragged their tired bodies and fell face-first into the stream.
*Splash splsh*
As the water flowed around them, these soldiers basically inhaled the water. Many choked but they didn’t care. Swallowing the cold water brought soothing to their burning parched throats. Even choking to them was still a sign that they were still alive, that they had still survived and made it.
A chair of ice appeared out of nowhere and the Mage sat down. Beside him, the old chief was crawling on all fours as he finally rolled over on his back next to the mage.
“I’m…I’m still alive.”
The old chief said this with a tone that suggested it was an unbelievable thing. Well in fact that was the case. After surviving the griffon’s pit with only a few survivors, both he and the Mage immediately faced more beasts and predators to their horror.
The Mage ignored the chief’s labored breaths and waved his staff, an orb of water materialized in front of him and he was too lazy to even lean forward to drink from it and instead willed it to start pouring into his mouth.
The chief stared up at the Mage pitifully. Even though there was water just a few feet away, the old chief could move no more.
“Sir Mage…Please.”
The Mage rolled his eyes before he reluctantly lowered the orb of water down, the chief immediately drank as if he had never seen water in his life. The Mages’ water was so refreshing and tasty that the old man almost couldn’t believe it.
“Sir Mage, do you have this water every single time, it’s delicious.”
The Mage grew annoyed and was in no mood for compliments after everything he had just gone through and dropped the orb of water on the old man splashing him in the face.
“Don’t flatter me old man! Look at what that little bastard has caused!”
The Mage pointed at the remaining soldiers and what a pitiful number it was. They had started with several thousand but now, after less than a day of pursuit, they were down to around one hundred.
The old chief looked at these soldiers and they too looked back at him with glares of hatred. They seemed to hold him partly responsible for what had happened.
The Mage put his head down and tried to breathe, to calm his nerves as he continued.
“That demon child caused all of this. We underestimated him, we thought he was a normal boy but who could have thought he was actually a fucking monster. He planned everything from the start. What kind of bastard raised such a beasts?”
The chief said nothing but he understood how messed up this all seemed. Even he who was aware of some of the boy’s gifts was taken aback by what occurred. It made sense to him though given who the boy’s father was. The father a legend of the battlefield, was it any wonder the son was the same. Thinking this through though, the implication was terrifying. The boy was clearly not normal and if he could do all of this at this age, who or what could contain him, control him once he grew up to adulthood. Even now, the chief was finding it harder and harder to and was questioning his decision to betray Chela and her family.
(The boy is just like his father, and this is without fighting. No this is fighting, it’s just a different kind of fighting. The boy is using his great knowledge to destroy his enemies. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want so many to die. I only wished for the forest to be safe from the outside world. That’s what Ogastx promised. As long as I brought him Grek and his family, the forest would be under his protection but now, losing so many, would Ogastx even accept this. Will he even keep his word at this point. Such a disaster. I pray to the almighty gods, please protect the forest, please do not let harm befall Chela and her children. If you heed my prayers, even if she and the rest of her family hate me, for these sins and their protection, I will gladly die and have no regrets.)
As the chief prayed inwardly, he felt a bad omen and his eyes widened in shock. He could sense the Greta forest was enraged. After the deaths of so many of her inhabitants, the forest was angry and saddened with deep grief. The chief was gutted and he began to question his actions even more.
(Even the forest is upset. What can be done?)
“SET CAMP! I DON’T CARE IF YOU ARE EXHAUSTED. I WANT DOUBLE THE GUARDS ON MAX ROTATION. GET IT DONE NOW!”
The Mage shouted his orders. He wanted to send word to his lord and the other soldiers he sent away earlier but he knew any more than this and the remaining soldiers may just revolt. He couldn’t push them without consequences.
“Tonight we’ll rest and first thing in the morning, I want you and someone else to head back to your village old man.”
The chief became nervous hearing this.
“Back to my village…for what?”
The Mage slapped the old man across the face, he was tired of the constant questions and his anger needed an outlet.
“Shut up! That’s none of your concern you simply do as I say when I say it!”
Seeing the chief get slapped, many of the soldiers enjoyed it and wish the Mage would do more but a single look from the Mage snapped them out of it and they quickly got back to wor setting up camp.
The chief said nothing else but his wavering thoughts were making him question his loyalties more and more for the Mage and Ogastx.
At the same time, a little way into the forest, a pair of steady eyes watched and observed in silence.
(It’s almost over.)
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