Chapter 219: Cruel Fate
It had been three weeks since I had been the rabbit for the first time. Since then, each pup had taken a turn, none as successful as I had been. Now, we had switched to tracking the Hounds individually to test our skills. This morning, I had drawn Hearne.
The game had changed slightly as well. We were given our healing and stamina potions, and the prey was allowed to fight back within reason. Hearne was good with a bow, and I knew he was probably leading me to a clearing.
I pressed my hand to the ground, melting the thin layer of frost that had formed overnight, and sent out a pulse with earth speak. I had gotten good at interpreting the feedback, eliminating everything below ground, and narrowing my focus. I could clearly see Hearne’s trail of footprints across the pine needles under the tree. My earth speak highlighted each footprint in detail for me. Hearne had climbed a tree and swung a good twenty feet away at a right angle to his trail before continuing. I pulled the spider silk glove back on and flexed my callused hand.
I nocked my own arrow on my bow and crouched as I moved silently, using the trees for cover. We had replaced the silver heads with soft-fired clay. The heads crumbled on impact, and the shaft could not penetrate our Hound armor. They did leave a nasty welt, as I had found out from Konstantin’s demonstration on me.
I paused as I sensed something wrong. I couldn’t figure out what it was; I just felt something was not right after so many pursuits. I really needed to find a way to activate my earth speak easier. I only got fuzzy images when I tried it on trees. Touching the ground was the best way, but I got the same fuzzy image when I tried to use it through my boots.
Walking barefoot was not an option, even though it worked well. Being in contact with stone or earth always gave me the best feedback. Removing my glove constantly was becoming an annoyance and put me at risk of being seen in the act. No one knew I had the earth speak ability.
I stood behind a boulder and sent out an earth pulse. That bastard Hearne was hiding inside a crevice thirty feet ahead. He had his bow nocked as well, waiting. He knew about my air shield, so he needed to surprise me. By his position, he had circled back and was going to attack me from behind after I passed. I sighed, as this was going to hurt.
I followed the difficult trail he left and listened for movement; my ears focused on where I knew Hearne was hiding. At the first sound of the bow twang, I dodged right but was still caught in the shoulder blade. “Disabling shot,” Hearne announced flatly. He stood and approached while I worked out the pain in my arm. “You found me fast, Eryk. Faster than any other pup—and faster than most Hounds could.”
“I still lost,” I said, rubbing my shoulder. “How was I supposed to avoid being surprised?” I indicated his perfect hiding spot twenty feet away.
Hearne shrugged, “You sensed something; your bow was ready. You are getting closer, closer than the others. It is another level of awareness.” He paused to think. “For me, it is like a wrongness is hanging in the air, whispering to me. And no, it is not a spell form—more intuition. For others, their senses suddenly become heightened. For others, their heart races for no reason. It is your subconscious telling you danger is near. You need to recognize it for what it is.”
We started walking back to the archery range and were the first to return. Konstantin arched an eyebrow, and the other Hounds practicing paused to look. “That was rather abrupt.”
“He didn’t fall for any of my false trails,” Hearne stated. “He is as good as any Hound I know at tracking. I still put an arrow in him.” Hearne managed a brief smirk at winning the contest. Konstantin nodded and tossed me a lesser healing potion, which I pretended to put in my belt.
“Don’t praise him; his head is already big enough,” Konstantin rebuked good-naturedly. “Val, you are next. Hearne, you have fifteen minutes lead.” There was a look between the two men, and Konstantin added, “You can start after Hearne gets some water.” The trainers were not exempt from Konstantin’s constant pushing.
Arrows thudding on targets resumed, and I rested a bit. Keeping my spell forms hidden from the others was becoming a burden. The empire was also heavily invested in training the Hounds. Konstantin handed out at least twenty lesser healing potions every day now. At a market price of five gold each, this type of training was expensive.
The other pups complained that the potions tasted like vinegar and spoiled cabbage, and I knew that was because they were close to expiration, looking at the wax seals. Still, the alternative of healing naturally was not an option as it would slow the training. The orcs, elves, and Bartiradians seemed to be laying low for the unusually mild winter, but spring was coming.
Hearne took off at a jog a few minutes later. When fifteen minutes had passed on Konstantin’s hourglass, he released Val. I stood and took my position at fifty paces from the swinging targets, switching to a quiver of practice arrows.
The targets were now much smaller, having gone from man size to shield size. We were supposed to hit it at the top and bottom of both pendulum swings. It took me five arrows to finish my round, with my first arrow going low by a few inches and my fourth clipping the bag and tumbling into the woods. I added my other eight arrows into a stationary target set at one hundred paces, missing high on the first shot.
As I waited for the others to finish and retrieve my arrows, Cato came running into camp. I moved closer to Konstantin to overhear. “Found an ogre trail. Followed it, and a female and male are about two miles outside the boundary to the south.” Dirk, Cato’s pursuer, jogged into camp shortly after, and I guessed their hunt had been canceled.
Konstantin thought momentarily, “What are they doing so far north? They hate these cold winters. Maybe the milder temperatures this year…”
“We could always ask them, but I never knew ogres to be great conversationalists.” Cato retorted smartly. Konstantin just grunted and reached for his whistle. He blew twice, causing two piercing chirps in the cold air, ending today’s practice. The whistles were repeated as the message was relayed through the woods. Thirty minutes later, everyone returned from their Hound and Rabbit game.
“The hunts are called off today. The pups have the rest of the day off except you and you.” I didn’t even need to look to see Konstantin pointing at me. The other pup selected was Dirk. “You are going to join us on an ogre hunt.” That pronouncement stirred the group of pups. A few requested to come. Konstantin’s sharp look told them not to ask again.
After the pups collected the arrows and extra gear and headed back to the castle, Hearne took the lead. “If you remember from the lesson, ogres are best dealt with at range. You almost never encounter more than one in the wild. Unless it is a pregnant female, the male remains with her, foraging and hunting for her until she gives birth. The ogre newborn is the size of a man and can walk after just a day. The mother will teach it to forage for around three months and then leave it to fend for itself.”
As was his custom to correct Hearne, Cato added, “The gray ogres of the isles do form small tribes and are a little smarter but only prefer hot climates.” Hearne grunted but nodded in agreement.
Konstantin focused on Dirk and me. “You two have decent skills at moving silently and are the best trackers among the pups. Consider this bonus training. Remain at range and only join after we start our attack. We will be targeting the head and genitalia of the male and just the head of the female. You can put twenty arrows into the torso of an ogre, and it will not slow it down. If you have to fight it in melee, get behind it and try to cut the ankle tendon to immobilize it.”
Dirk was nervous and asked, “Just seven of us? It’s an ogre, shouldn’t more of us be going?”
“If the encounter was in the open, maybe. With trees for cover, we have the advantage of surprise. Half of you pups still cannot move silently, and I don’t want to risk our lives protecting you. If you get spooked or chased, run north as fast as your legs can carry you.”
Konstantin then laid out the plan for surrounding the two ogres once we found them. This was more for Dirk’s and my benefit as the Hounds were practiced in hunting ogres. They were uncommon monstrosities, and eradicating them was as difficult a task as eradicating gnolls.
It was decided that Konstantin was going to take the first shot, targeting the male. Then everyone else would join him as it focused on him. With luck, someone would get an arrow into its eye. It was expected the pregnant female would flee once the fight began. The only time an ogre didn’t relish combat was when it was with child or protecting a kill.
As we were racing south following Cato, the Hounds fanned out, keeping Dirk and me in the center. It was a controlled pace, but we covered the ground rapidly. After seven miles, the Hounds slowed around us, and I could smell a hint of the foulness in the air.
The Hounds converged on us, conversing in whispers, “They are close—less than half a mile. Eryk, read the tracks,” Konstantin ordered.
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I looked at the ground, and the frost had disappeared, but it was easy to see the massive creatures’ prints in the frozen earth anyway. I took my time, following the tracks for a while before announcing my findings. “Two bipedal humanoids. One urinated over there, and they are walking. Maybe an hour old?”
Konstantin nodded in mild praise, “Good. But by the smell of that urine, the tracks are about half an hour old. Dirk, use your spell form to confirm.”
Dirk’s eyes were already watering from the pungent urine nearby, and when he used his spell form, he immediately vomited loudly. I could only imagine what his enhanced sense of smell had detected. “Move,” Konstantin hissed angrily, and the other Hounds spread out. “Dirk, get some distance and regain yourself.” Konstantin’s voice was full of disappointment. “Hopefully, they were too far away to hear you lose your breakfast.”
Konstantin moved off, and I joined him. The twang of a bow off to our right had Konstantin swear, “Fortuna’s cursed luck.” Other bows sang in the forest, and a child’s voluminous, pained roar echoed, spooking a pair of owls into flight. I could see an ogre through the trees now and felt it as it thundered through the woods at its attacker.
Konstantin drew and released, scoring an arrow in its thigh. I think he had been aiming for the swinging member between the legs but missed. He grunted in dismay, “Hearne is going to lead it this way. Keep an eye out for the female,” he told me, tracking the male ogre with his bow.
I could see Hearne flitting through the trees and tracked my line of sight back to where the ogre had come from. Another ogre head popped up and was looking around from a gully. It had a rabbit in its mouth. “I see it. It looks like it is going to run.”
“Shadow it if it moves,” Konstantin ordered. He then started moving off to assist Hearne, who was pulling the male ogre in a line for the other Hounds to get unobstructed shots. I saw other Hounds moving with him deep in the trees as arrows zipped toward the target, most connecting. The ogre already had half a dozen arrows in it, blood dripping from other punctures where it had pulled other arrows out. As long as the ogre didn’t catch any of them, it was clear the Hounds would take it down as it would bleed to death from the poison.
The female thought the same thing and started running in the opposite direction. I cursed as I pursued it. When I reached the gully, it was full of churned earth, and two rabbit heads were discarded nearby. Trailing an ogre from a distance is not something I enjoyed, as its unpleasant odor hung in the air. I moved to my left to avoid the foul wake. The ogre made it a mile before it stopped, panting for breath, probably not used to the exercise. It turned, and its bloated belly was easy to discern. Other than the bloated belly and missing anatomy, it looked just like a male. I surmised ogres did not nurse their young.
I paused with the ogre as she scanned the trees for pursuit. Her eyes passed over me twice before she settled on me. I had been still, and only my head was visible, but she had still located me. Her black eyes studied from fifty yards, deciding if I was a threat. The cries of futility from her mate still sounded in the distance. She unearthed a rock and threw it at me. It shattered a modest trunk nearby, spraying bark, but wasn’t even close to my position.
I decided to practice my archery. None of my arrows were prepared with Hound poison. I targeted her eyes, and my arrow thudded just below the rolls of fat on her chin. I didn’t get much penetration through the tough skin and fatty tissue, but it caused her to panic and cry loudly for her mate.
An anguished cry was returned, and soon, I could hear the male crushing through the forest toward me. The female thought it was a good time to attack me with more rocks, forcing me to take cover. I didn’t think my air shield could stop one of the head-sized stones directly.
With my back to the female, I was given full view of the ogre crashing toward me. With a dozen arrows in it and blood coating much of its rippling flesh, it was running on adrenaline and instinct to save its mate. My peripheral vision could see the Hounds trailing the quarry further behind. As the ogre closed, the rocks stopped coming, leaving me with little recourse.
When the thundering creature got within fifteen feet, I removed a portion of its brain. I dodged as it crashed to the earth, the pin cushion of arrows snapping as it rolled to a stop. At point-blank range, I drew my bow and put an arrow in its eye to explain my victory. The thuds of footsteps alerted me the female had decided to rush me. With my aether bottomed out, I tossed my bow to safety and drew my blade as I sprinted toward the Hounds to regroup.
A large rock slammed into my calf, crushing my leg and causing me to tumble through dead leaves. I fumbled for a prepared vial in my pocket and smashed it on a nearby rock. A cloud of noxious gas erupted in the air as all three pellets inside combusted with the air. I closed my eyes, held my breath, and dragged myself out of the cloud. The female bellowed as her momentum carried her into the cloud and she inhaled deeply. The blindness spores and sneezing spores were doing their work quickly.
Konstantin was standing over me protectively, firing his bow into the cloud. Soon Hearne, David, Cato, and Jansen joined him. The ogre wailed and swung her arms futilely, searching for me as arrow after arrow hit her.
“Out,” Hearne barked. Soon, David and Cato mirrored his call, letting the others know they had no arrows remaining. Konstantin took my quiver off me and continued the assault. The female finally ran blindly out of the smoke, quickly tripping over a log. Konstantin moved closer and for a better angle. He soon had an arrow in the female’s eye, and she stopped struggling soon after. Only the exhausted adrenaline-fueled breaths of the Hounds could be heard as we all listened for additional threats.
I examined my leg, pulling up the blood-soaked leggings. The bone was showing, and it was at the wrong angle. “Can you heal yourself?” Konstantin asked in a detached voice, but concern was in his eyes.
I shook my head in the negative as I was dealing with the pain rushing in as my shock faded. He grunted and retrieved a greater healing potion from his belt. “Drink this after I align the bone.” I nodded and waited while he straightened the leg. My vision fuzzed with the pain, but I remained conscious. I took the potion and felt the cool wash of healing aether focus on the wound, pulling the bone and fragments into their proper place. I let off a relieved sigh when the most painful part of the healing was complete.
The other Hounds stood around us as they looked at the carnage, and my “lucky” shot into the male’s eye. When they finished their examination, Cato asked curiously. “What was that cloud?” The other Hounds were paying close attention as well.
“I shattered three pellets on that rock over there. Smoke, blindness, and sneezing pellets.” I answered truthfully. Konstantin and Hearne went over to examine the glass and residue. Hearne nodded appreciatively, and Konstantin just arched an eyebrow at me.
“Smart keeping them inside a glass vial,” Jansen commented. “It is not going to be fun retrieving our arrowheads.”
Konstantin grunted, “Eryk can do it as penance for making us use a greater healing potion on him.” I looked up at him, anger boiling up. “I will stay with him while he does.” He winked at me conspiratorially, causing my anger to fade.
The others were used to Konstantin picking on the pups, and me slightly more often than the others. Soon, the others were off to collect Dirk, leaving me with Konstantin. As my aether recovered, I channeled my healing spell form to finish the healing on my leg. “Can you remove the arrowheads with your dimensional space?”
“I can, but I need to recover my aether. Do you want me to use the collector first?” I asked, standing and testing my repaired leg.
Konstantin scanned the trees, “Give it a few minutes. David has been asking questions of you recently.” I nodded. “Where did you get the pellets?” He asked curiously.
“I made them myself in Zyna’s alchemy lab,” I replied, sitting on a log.
“Zyna hates alchemy,” Konstantin replied skeptically.
“Which is why she let me use the Chancellor’s alchemy lab. I was bored.” I studied my bloodied leggings, my sock annoyingly soaked with blood as well.
“Do you have more?” Konstantin said while standing over the female. The stomach of the creature was moving as the unborn ogre was suffocating inside the womb with its mother dead.
“A few,” I said as I produced the collector. Konstantin studied it and shook his head in disbelief at actually seeing it. “Do you want some?” I offered.
“Perhaps. They tend to break at the most inopportune time. The Hounds rarely carry them anymore. You should use it soon. No need for the creature to suffer.” He indicated the panicking ogre child.
“It feels wrong. It will never have a chance for life,” I said as I placed the collector and activated it.
“That ogre would grow up and happily chew on your bones given a chance.” Konstantin said unsympathetically. The blue smoke was thick as I think it pulled essence from both the mother and child. A major empathy essence formed, which only made me feel more guilty. Shortly later, the male formed a major power essence, and Konstantin handed me my discarded bow. “How long to collect the arrowheads?”
My eyes were watering from the smell, and I didn’t want to remain close to the ogres, but I had no choice. It took me an hour to pull chunks of flesh out and deliver them to Konstantin to retrieve the arrowheads a distance away. As we walked back to the castle, Konstantin found three more arrows that had missed their mark.
“Do you want an essence?” I finally asked.
“If you are offering.” He said impassively. I passed him the power essence and consumed the empathy essence myself. Konstantin consumed the essence and muttered a soft “Thank you.” I felt a little dizzy as the essence worked. It had been some time since I consumed an essence. I had used everything in my dimensional space with the exception of the two apex water essences. I was not in a position to unlock a new affinity at the moment.
We reached the boundary markers; we continued in silence. Konstantin broke the silence after a time, “Cornelius and Sergius will be coming out in a few weeks to select which of the litter they want.”
“Does that mean our training is almost complete?” I inquired. Those two Centurions ran the Hounds in the two halves of the Empire, and Cornelius was responsible for training all the Hounds.
“We will keep you as long as we can. Training is usually closer to seven months, but spring will be here in three, and I expect the orcs and elves to move then,” Konstantin said bitterly.
After some time, thinking about the implications, I asked, “How are you certain I will be sent to the archives eventually?”
“Sergius is unflinchingly loyal to the Emperor. He usually has six Hounds guarding the archives. You need to prove you are just as loyal a dog to the Emperor as he is. There are also plans in motion to make sure some of those guarding the archives will be required elsewhere,” Konstantin muttered distastefully. It sounded to me like the conspiracy was going to involve removing some Hounds.
We reached the castle, and the guards steered clear of us. When we entered the common room, jeers and complaints were shouted at us to go bathe from the others. Konstantin’s hard gaze silenced the dissenters as we received our dinner from Egg. Just another typical day in the life training to be a Hound.
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