Tanisha held the reins of the two ox panthers as the wagon followed traffic through the road tunnel roads. They had been traveling for a couple of days and they stopped at several underground hamlets to rest. The dwarves they met along the way were interested in their travels and stories. Apparently it was not every day that you met such an eclectic mix of creature and people as their small group.
Bjorn was getting antsy being cooped up inside of the wagon for several days since they couldn't let him out. The main pack animal underground was of course drakes. Which meant that if any of them saw him they would immediately become afraid and possibly run away which was dangerous and tunnels even spacious ones like they were in.
The creatures were nervous around Tanisha but as long as she didn't get too close they didn't seem to mind. She had been experimenting as to what the Queen of Reptiles actually did to them. The description said that it would make hydra respect her and other reptilian creatures would be weary. She was curious if it had something to do with her aura or if they could just tell that she was venomous.
Bjorn didn't really radiate his aura but creatures were alerted to him by just his scent alone. Bjorn's aura was always tightly controlled around him most of the time just above his scales. Though in a fight it would explode around him like a torrent.
This was common for most magical fauna. Leaking magic all over the place could make you a more easy target for your predators or scare your prey. Many animals, including Bjorn himself, can literally track mana in the air with far more sensitivity than most mages.
So if it wasn't the aura or at least not entirely what was causing the drakes to be afraid?
That question and many like it is what racked Tanisha's brain the entire time they were traveling.
Then something else finally took the top spot in her musings. The tunnelway was going upward. It was a gentle incline but importantly it was the first time they had anything but level road. After a few minutes Tanisha felt it, a gentle breeze of fresh air. A few more minutes and there was natural light ahead of them.
"Speedy, Bjorn, Ana we are almost out," Tanisha called.
Aurelius leather curtain behind and step out onto the drivers bench behind her.
"It is about time," Aurelius said as he took a deep breath as if testing. "I think I have had enough with being underground for a while."
"Agreed," Bjorn said.
They all just watched as the light ahead of them gradually grew brighter. The amount of travelers coming and growing grew more dense as the paths leading elsewhere underground lessened. Then like a curtain being lifted they all felt sun on their skin for the first time in several days.
The air was thick and humid carrying the scent of pack animals but also of the undeniable smell of nature. A far cry from the stale tunnels or the dry ash covered deadlands. The world unfurled in the natural hues of greens and browns under the cloudless blue expanse of the sky. It was almost overwhelming with the crystal clarity the had under a normal sky.
Rolling grasslands spread in all directions, broken only by the wide road cutting through them like a blade. In the distance, clusters of trees gathered into the beginnings of a forest.
Everyone seemed to take the same long sigh. They had only been underground for a few days but it felt much longer. Tanisha almost forgot what a healthy sky looked like. It was almost alien in comparison to the sky over Drakvik which was always choked with thick plumbs of smoke. The forge town was full of kind people but she was happy to be away from the constant whirring of machines or hissing of steam lines.
"Ohh, that feels so much better," Tanisha said, stretching her arms high as the sunlight washed over her. "I hope the next city is above ground."
"It should not be too much further," Aurelius said, shading his eyes slightly as he looked ahead. "Maybe an hour."
Tanisha nodded, then without warning stepped up onto the bench and pressed the reins into his hands. Her angel core staff floated into her now free hands.
"Well then, you get to drive. I need to stretch my legs."
Aurelius frowned immediately. "Where are you going? We need to stay together."
"I am not going far," Tanisha said as she hopped down from the wagon with an easy motion. "I just want to see if there are any interesting plants along the roadside. I am an alchemist, remember. If I find something valuable, I can sell it or use it once I get proper equipment again."
"Can I come?" Bjorn asked.
"No Big Man, there are still too many drakes," Tanisha said.
"Just don't go too far." Aurelius said.
"Of course party leader!" Tanisha saluted dramatically.
Aurelius rolled his eyes, "go on, get out of here."
***
Tanisha could always tell where the group was even as she lost sight of them as she adventured through the forest. Bjorn could be her compass as the bond always pointed in his direction. She had found a few interesting specimens to take back with her. Namely a goril bulb, a few trenitl roots and several other innocuous plants. Unfortunately it was nothing worth more than a few copper and nothing she could make any interesting potions from.
She treated it more as a test for herself as she had read many herbology books with Ivoi. Which helped her to identify many of the plants she was finding. Ever since she opened her blood gate her memory and recall were both greatly expanded. Things she only read once came back to her in frightening clarity. Having a complete mage body really put it all in perspective as to just how different a real mage is from a normal person.
She bent down and picked an unusual looking mushroom growing off the base of an old tree. It was white in coloration, but instead of a cap it had long sinew like growths which hung down from the stalk. She had never seen or heard of such an unusual fungus and assumed it would be worth study.
"As soon as I get a proper workstation." Tanisha said to herself.
She carefully stored the fungi in her herb bag and continued on her exploration. After a few more minutes of finding very little she decided it was time to find her way back to the group. She felt for the bond and her head snapped to Bjorn's direction.
Then she felt something in the air that didn't feel right. It was the discharge of spells further in the forest in the opposite direction of her party. She extended her senses as far as she could. After a few seconds she felt an unmistakable snap of mana. Beneath it something else, a cold twisted wrongness that always accompanied monster powers.
There was a battle going on between a monster and something else. She couldn't tell what it was fighting but she wouldn't just let a monster roam this close to a major road. She would at least see what it was and if possible kill it. If not, report it to someone that could. Her time with the Jackrabbits taught her that sometimes reconnaissance was more important than engaging blindly.
Cautiously she continued deeper into the forest, after a few minutes she could feel the aura of the monster far more clearly. There were more than one, and they were definitely engaged in a fight. The sound of combat became more apparent along with the feeling of material energy she hadn't felt before.
The forest thinned as she moved, opening onto a dirt road cutting through the trees. She followed it, keeping low, until the source of the noise came into view. A carriage was under assault by pack monsters.
The creatures swarming it were abominations. Larger than horses, their bodies were wrong in every possible way. Spikes jutted at unnatural angles, tentacles writhed along their flanks, and their heads, if they could even be called that, were clusters of too many mouths, snapping and gnashing over one another.
They moved on six powerful legs, fast and erratic, their claws tearing into the ground as they circled their prey.
Identify
Name: N/A
Species: Unknown
+ Level: 70
Vocation: Eat Eat Eat
Whoever was defending the carriage was strong. That much was obvious. Bolts of that strange material energy lashed out, each strike killing a creature outright. The problem was numbers. For every one that fell, another rushed in from the treeline. The pressure never let up. The fact they hadn't run meant they were protected more than just a carriage.
She used her teleportation to appear atop a tree branch to get a better vantage of the situation. Her angel core staff channeled her power as she whispered a spell which conjured five orbs of water which floated around her.
Razor-thin streams cut through the air, slicing into the pack below. Several monsters were severed cleanly, their bodies collapsing in pieces. Others were left wounded, deep cuts spilling dark ichor across the dirt
That seemed to be the relief the mysterious defender needed. Bolts of that strange energy slammed into the distracted creatures, killing them before they could regroup. Tanisha did not stay in one place. After each volley, she blinked to another branch, shifting her position before the monsters could track her.
The tactic quickly became an unspoken rhythm between her and the carriage's defender. Strike. Relocate. Strike again. Between her interference and the defender's precision, the numbers finally began to thin and finally they broke.
One by one, the remaining monsters fell until the road was quiet again, their twisted bodies littering the ground. It was only after the entire pack of thirty were all dead did the sounds of battle finally subside. Tanisha surveyed the area again before she jumped down from the tree.
"Is it over?" a voice called nervously from inside the carriage.
"I think so," another answered.
"You all are safe," a third voice said, steadier than the others. Then, louder, directed at her. "Hey, warrior, thank you for your assistance. Name's Soren."
Tanisha kept scanning the treeline, her posture still tense. "It was no probl—"
She turned toward the speaker and stopped as the words died in her throat.
Turning to face the man but her words died in her throat when she saw him. During the fight she hadn't gotten a good look at him as her focus was on the monsters. The man standing there was unmistakable. Green skin, brown eyes, dark hair, and rising from his head, broad antlers like a moose.
A druid.
For a moment everything else fell away. The road, the carriage, even the voices behind him as dwarves began to step out and murmur their relief. It all blurred into nothing. The only thing that remained was him, walking toward her with an easy smile and an outstretched hand, like they were allies who had just fought side by side.
Her chest tightened.
Memories dragged themselves to the surface, unbidden and sharp. Druids that killed her sister. Druids that had tortured people and turned them into skin walkers. The druids that attacked the mountain fortress hurt Joha. The druids that were at war with her people.
Here this one was, smiling, unaware or uncaring, wearing the face of something that had brought nothing but suffering into her life.
She felt rage. It rose from somewhere deep, instinctive and immediate, flooding through her veins before she could temper it. She clenched her fists in disbelief. She had just saved a druid.