Everlyn proved harder to track down than he expected and when he paused to see if he could detect her audibly, he couldn’t hear her voice anywhere. In the end, after exploring the inside of the compound and the top of the wall Tom circled on the outside of their fortifications and discovered her sitting on the east watching the dawn with Jin, Gita and Toni.
He admired his girlfriend for a bit. She was happily chatting away, genuine joy on her face as she enjoyed a moment of normality. Then he frowned as he concentrated on Gita. She was a suspect and at least at night was locked in the prison. Her face was drawn, visibly exhausted, and with a sigh she rested her head on Jin’s shoulder. The ranger responded by hugging her tightly and Gita wiped her eyes.
The four of them, well mainly Evie and Toni were in an animated conversation but no sound reached Tom where he stood at the corner of the wall ten metres away. That explained why he hadn’t been able to hear anything inside. She was using her ability to silence their discussion and protect it from anyone listening in.
Tom knew her trait was not a toggle on and off style spell. She had to actively balance it against the surrounding noises. A lot of its effectiveness was anticipating the sounds you were going to make. An abrupt, unexpected shout would get through the wards, but one that could be predicted wouldn’t
He walked up toward them and did not hide his footsteps. His shoes rang on the ground. “You’re training your trait?”
Everlyn turned her to acknowledge him and smirked. From how the conversation continued, none of the others had heard him.
A small rock appeared in his hands. He flicked it at the wall.
Throw Rock.
Crack.
It shattered against the stone of the wall.
The remaining three all reacted.
Toni stood and spun a wave of wind wrapping around the four of them in a defensive shield. Jin and Gita both had their weapons drawn though only Jin felt like a threat to his battle honed instincts.
Everlyn pouted at his decision to ruin her discussion with her friends.
“What?” Toni asked, glaring at him. “What’s your deal?”
He raised his hands defensively. “I made lots of noise coming up, but someone was blocking them. I figured this was the safest way to break the sound cancelling, as any closer would be dangerous.”
“It wasn’t.” Jin snapped.
Tom accepted the rebuke. He should have known better. After the tutorial, everyone’s survival instincts had been honed. Of course an unexpected crack behind them in their blind spot would cause a reaction. Everyone was on edge, and the killer made it worse. Especially for Gita and for a smaller amount, Jin. Those two would be extra sensitive, as Reilly had been killed while Gita slept just metres away. “Sorry.”
Jin still glowered at him, not at all pacified by the apology through Gita gently pushed the ranger’s bow down so it no longer pointed at Tom.
The spinning wind fell away also at a gesture from Toni. She stared him down. “I guess you’re here to steal Everlyn.”
“These were the orders I was given.”
“Orders? No.” Everlyn jumped to her feet. “It’s a date.”
“What are you doing?” Jin asked.
“We’re to investigate the surrounding landscape to discover anything that can be used for defence. Hopefully, we’ll find something interesting, but for now the aim is to create bolt holes and escape routes in case we need them.”
“I’m on duty to do the same.” Jin admitted.
“Sounds dangerous.” Toni said.
“Nah,” Jin sheathed her sword. “We’re not going far. I doubt we’ll run into any challenges.”
“It’ll be boring.” Tom told them. “But important. All the potential ranged squads for the event are assigned.”
“What? So you’re memorising stuff? Marking bolt holes?” Toni asked doubtfully.
“That and changing the landscape to benefit us.” Everlyn told them. “It’s why clay foot here is invited.” She playfully blew him a kiss.
“With his earth skills?” Toni shook her head. “He can’t do too much. His earth magic is not that fast.”
Everlyn abruptly stamped her foot. It smacked against the rock. The noise echoed, a foot versus an unyielding surface and probably enhanced by Everlyn’s trait created more noise than it should of but her point was clear. “The ground seems solid, but it’s not. There’s a huge number of tunnels under the stones, with regular entrances and exits.”
“Sounds like all terrain in the tutorial.” Toni agreed unimpressed.
“No.” Everlyn shook her head vigorously. “It’s not a new terrain. The tunnels are part of the surface. I’m not talking about using dungeons, but a landscape feature. The ferrets use them and part of our job today is to kill all the ferrets because once cleared they don’t spawn back. The tunnels are mostly human sized, but there are areas where they get too narrow for us. With a bit of work, we can widen them sufficiently to give us all access.”
“Bolt holes.” Jin said knowledgeably. “Everlyn’s right. I’ve explored a couple.”
“We’ll probably never use them,” Everlyn continued. “But we’ve got time, so why not. Same with the ballistas that are being built. They’ll only be useful against a subset of monsters, but we have time, so we might as well create them.”
“Sounds more fun than my task. I’ll be spending all day on the walls.” Gita said. “Sinking my magic into arrays. Better than a prison.” She finished darkly.
Jin hugged her.
“We’ll find the killer soon.” Everlyn promised. “We’ve got a plan.” Then she looked at Tom. “But there’s a lot to do, so we should head off.”
The pair of them departed, and in short order Everlyn found the first of the tunnels. There was a tight spot almost immediately. Everlyn could slip through, but not Tom. He engaged his magic, and the stone flowed to open up till Tom could squeeze in. That was as wide as Everlyn wanted it.
The next was wider, and he didn’t need to do anything. Everlyn turned to face him and pointed at the entrance. “Can you narrow it?”
“Why?”
“Strategy. If a monster bigger than you is chasing us, I don’t want to worry about it following.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“I see. If they are larger than humans, we use the tunnels. If not, we avoid them.”
Everlyn shrugged. “That’s the plan. If we were planning on creating the settlement and weathering all the waves, then it would almost be a certainty that at least one monster type would have forced us to use these tunnels. But with two more… They probably won’t be used but just in case we need to create choke points. Also, the tunnels aren’t useless if what we’re fighting is smaller than us. If they are, we can still use them to funnel them into a kill zone. There is lots of stuff I would prefer to engage underground than on the surface.”
Tom shifted the rock to how she directed, and they kept moving. The tunnels they were exploring were frustrating. It had been an hour and there had been no natural treasures or anything to fight, but the second was just a matter of time. They were getting further away from the fortifications and every step made an engagement with local wildlife more likely.
Ahead of him, Everlyn froze. “Ferrets.” She said simply, and Tom knew she was using her trait to ensure her voice only reached him. “We need to clear them.”
“I’ll go first?” he whispered back.
She nodded, and they switched positions awkwardly squeezing past each other in the tight corridors.
Tom crept forward every step completely silent and not because of his own skills.
There was a blur of movement.
He recoiled backwards with his spear, appearing in the cramped confines instantly. It jerked as a force hit it.
Spark.
Razor-sharp claws swished centimetres from his face. The electricity crackled over a ferret that was a impaled through its shoulder. Its muscles spasmed, which stopped it from trying to maim him.
Crack.
An arrow burst through its brain. With a practised move, he pulled his spear back and made it disappear.
There were more scuffing sounds from beyond the bend. Tom waited till the blur was around the corner and leaping towards him before the spear re-materialised.
Despite his attempt to brace, he was pushed back a step and Everlyn helped balance him with her forearm pressed firmly against his back. This time the ferret was impaled through the heart. With a shake of the spear, he loosened the weapon enough to store it again.
“Is this sensible?” Everlyn whispered.
Tom nodded. He had been in worse situations and his test with spark confirmed it could be used, let alone Remote Earth Manipulation. “We’re not in danger. Worst case I seal the tunnel with my magic.”
“Careful.” Everlyn warned. When he took a moment to look back, her face was tense. She had her bow at full draw ready to shoot anything that slipped past him.
They proceeded forward with Tom using his inventory space to take the ferret from in front to behind him.
“Pity it’s not a lair.” Everlyn muttered. “The community doesn’t need cheap meat or ferret furs anymore.”
“We still get experience.”
They crept forward. The ferrets didn’t coordinate; they kept coming at them one by one. He didn’t even have to use his magic,
Everlyn touched his shoulder. “Wait here.” She was looking down a small tunnel that stunk.
Tom grabbed her wrist before she could slip down it. “Why?”
“It’s their den. I’ll take care of it.”
“Is there a queen or something?”
She shook her head. “When an enemy intrudes upon their pack’s territory the young hide and the adults are sent out to meet the threat. The pups are…” she stopped talking. “I’ve already cleared five dens so… best you’re not exposed to it.”
Tom realised she was trying to protect him. But he was no shrinking violet. “I’ve done worse.”
Without hesitation, he pulled her back and went down to the cave. The ferret nursery was pretty much as she had indicated. A largish cave and then huddled against the furthest wall were lots of pink noses. On Earth, he would have thought the scene cute with all of them huddling together. They crowded, all of them shivering slightly, every single nose pointed his way.
But Tom only saw future man killers. He recalled their first attack and red blood going everywhere. The dead and the dying he wished he had an area of effect spell to make it faster. Tom assessed his options. Spark, Lightning Spears, Throw Rock, then he focused on the walls, floor, roof. He was underground.
Earth Sense activated. Then Hostile Earth there were yips of surprise and squeaks as the most recent litter got squished. Remote Earth Manipulation was already in action. The rock rose over the huddled mass of young, first a wall to contain them and then a wave of stone to compress.
Louder squeals of pain erupted and then a crashing sound as the tsunami of rock rolled over the small creatures. Then all that was left was a cave with a changed configuration, a deeper floor in parts, and a thicker section in the end.
Tom returned to Everlyn. “Done. Let’s keep going.”
She patted him on the back. “Thank you.”
They continued on clearing ferrets and expanding a network of tunnels that if the right enemy presented they would be thankful were available.
They got back an hour after dark and the scout, watching out for threats waved at them when they were over a hundred metres away. It was a quarter moon, so they were more than visible. A quick dinner and they retired to their bunker. Golly was there to stand guard and once safely in his alcove, the first barrier was warded by Harry and then he installed a second security layer in case a spell like the one Sven used on the door was deployed.
“I’m exhausted.” Everlyn complained. Tom agreed with her completely. They must have travelled forty kilometres, winding back and forth and most of it underground.
“Hard work.”
“And we get to do it again tomorrow.” Everlyn said brightly. Then her features went slack and Tom took the invitation, shutting his eyes and clicking through the prompt.
He emerged sitting on the couch with Everlyn across from him.
“I wanted to wish you good luck for tonight.”
“Thank you.”
“If you find out who it is, then wake me up.”
She made puppy dog’s eyes at him. Tom nodded acknowledgement.
He was kicked out of her system room and she snuggled into him. With an air of expectation of him, he attempted to sleep.
For once, his techniques failed him. The threat of the dreams. The need to find the killer they all combined to put him emotionally off kilter. It was only Everlyn on his chest that stopped him from fidgeting and getting up. He flicked into the system room and paced there. Back and forth in the empty reviewing everything he knew about the murders.
Then he was back in his head, replaying the ferret fights. He fell into dreaming without even realising it, meaningless confusing jumbles that abruptly changed.
Tom knew instantly that he was no longer dreaming and his oracle skill had kicked in.
He, not Tom but the person whose experience he was experiencing, patted Birdbrain underneath him absently while his legs made his mount circle to let him study the landscape.
“It has changed,” the person whose body Tom was sharing muttered to himself. “These mountains aren’t supposed to be here.” With a mental command, birdbrain used a spell to still the air on its back. Usually he liked the brisk wind unless he needed to consult a map like now and then the stillness Spell was useful. He produced the map book from his inventory, using the usual trick to ensure it was already open to the right page.
He held it up in…
Furry paws, Tom thought in shock as his mind tried to understand what the dream was showing.
The book was held in fury paws!
Tom’s mind raced. A different species.
Birdbrain was a flying beast of burden possibly better described as a treasured companion of the sapient whose experience he was sharing. Tom had only been given the opportunity to see the broad back, neck and a glimpse of beating wings which told him Birdbrain fitted its name and was a bird and not a reptile type monster.
The person he was in studied the map and then looked down at the ground below.
A rush of thoughts rushed through the brain that he was viewing.
These changes in landscape were evidence of an expansion. The GODs had created new land, and he hoped it was not evidence of a new competition. The sapient worried on that thought. A new competition was not inherently evil. It was part of the cycle of rebirth and often destruction. He would need to take that information back to his people so they could retreat to the water and be ready to defend, but if it was just the start… then there was an opportunity… If he met any competition teams… Providing they were reasonable…
Usually only half the races were terrors.
He could get lucky.
Tom did not have the context to parse what a terror was, but a lot of feelings were included with the thought. Terrors did not represent eldritch creatures; it was more a mindset that many of the competition race had. Sometimes xenophobia, but usually it was worse, a desire to crush and destroy sapience, torture, deconstruct and dominate, in that order of preference.
Tom shivered at that definition. It was the type of depravity that only ever occurred in the worst of the worst in humanity, which gave him the context of the challenges humanity faced. The competition was marked based on impact. Destroying and enslaving others was the easiest way to change the world, and terror races would have an advantage there.
It made his plan even more important.
Underneath his sapient host, Birdbrain kept flying as the sapient considered its moves. The expanded area seemed to be low level, which sort of matched the fear of this being evidence of a new competition. Which meant he wasn’t in danger and there may be riches.
He would explore and then report.
The view expanded, and Tom’s heart almost stopped. Even from above, he recognised that landscape in the distance. Orange yellow grassland with regular lumps rising above the grass cover.
Tom snapped straight upright. Everlyn tumbled off him and his knife and axe appeared in his hands. His heart thudded.
Shit.