"Oh, lookie here. Seems I missed one." I remark as I turn the corner. Grabbing the building to help me slow down, it breaks wide open. My arms fly about and my legs dig in instead, creating a trench in the road. Curses to the gods fill my head and I flick my claws with a gnash.
Just one more annoying thing to linger on my mind. And will this damn tickling across my back stop already!? I have no idea what's going on around there and I am increasingly feeling like I need Rose-sweerui to have a look at it. It's been way too sensitive since Brewbrt came along and solved that problem from before.
Maybe all that pecking and stomping hurt a lot more than I am letting on? But, how do I not understand how much pain I am in...? Magic. Of course it's going to be this bloody magic in my system!
The squawk of the escaped animal brings my attention back to where it needs to be.
"O-OOOPS!" I let out, a silly noise catching in my shrinking neck. The creature stops eating the piece of wall it had probably broken down. A wide foot scrapes into the road, throwing back a cloud of brown dots. Its first steps are like heavy jumps and the rotation of its 'shoulders' smoothens.
Right for me, right for me!
"Better than more walls and road!" I want to squeak, my legs spreading out along with my arms. The creature is smarter than I give it credit for and it ducks, barrelling right into my leg directly. Flipping into the air, I somehow latch my claws onto its neck or head. Clinging on for dear life, the rodeo begins.
My mouth blurts incoherently as my lower half smacks the animal's back. I keep failing to lock my legs around its backend and keep on smacking. Letting go, its arse smacks me away. I roll along the ground, not a bothersome scratch registering on my nerves.
Scurrying up, the animal catches me off balance and knocks me right onto the road. Its front logs-for-legs rise up and smash. Again, again, again. The road rises above me with each motion of the hammering limbs.
Somehow, much like all the other times I've embarrassed myself today, it's not really hurting. Oddly enough, it reminds me of someone flicking water in my face. There's no pain to it, but the act can still cause an annoying flinch and shutting of the eyes. Finding a moment, I put my arms up into a guarding block.
I'm not sinking as much into the ground, but, still, I am not getting any higher. The longer this goes on, the more the road is becoming pure powder. It's getting into my bandages. Having enough of my snug fit in the stone and dirt underneath us both, I try to focus.
Managing to get my claws onto its soles, I put an end to its determined effort. With what feels like a light shove to me, I throw it over and up onto its back. I drag myself upright with a groan, my body raining with dusty pebble sweat. My body shivers to knock the rest out of my limited attire.
I snap a claw up, "Stay!"
The animal continues to roll about on its back, almost as if it's amused by it. The heavy bloody thing squawks without end as its mess of debris crunches underspine. My ears catch onto what it's doing before my eyes do. The animal lands right back on its flat feet.
Actually... Would that still count as a leg? These things have no defined feet or hooves, for that matter. Just a thick, flat-bottomed leg that looks like it's skinned with tree bark.
I guess it doesn't matter; I suppose. I still need to take it back to the farm it broke out of, after all. So, I pick it up to ignore all the fuss. And, somehow, it's more docile than it's ever been. Surprisingly so.
The animal has gone completely still, a gentle chirp escaping its mouth. Does this thing, rather, do these things like being carried? Chirps are noises of enjoyment, aren't they? Whatever, I just need to be very careful and keep away from anyone and anything.
Stick to the centre of the road without the slightest deviation!
Yet, even like this, I still seem to be getting too close to things. It keeps trying to peck anything it can get its jaws on. Adjusting my grip on it, its thankfully thinner back legs still somehow block my vision. Stumbling about from here on out, I jut my neck on over to the open air.
Thankfully, some of the people brave enough to be out here are willing to point me the right way. I can't offer them much as thanks, but I hope they know so through some mind-reading trick. Magic can do so much, for this one moment, it can do that too. So says my imagination, anyway.
Finally spotting the signs of Brewbrt's windy magic, I arrive under him as he loudly counts animals. Each one is in his magical grip and enjoying the ride with the same sort of stiff bodied chirping as this one in my arms is. Moving my grip about, I prepare myself to offer it up. I cough into my mask to prepare my voice.
"Missing one?" I ask, and he takes it up into his arcane grip in a blink. Rolling my shoulder about, I get over the speed at which he did it. Brewbrt lets out a lengthy 'hmm.'
"More than one, it seems," he tells me as he moves all the animals into a claustrophobically tight pen. Not one of them can move anything other than their heads now. Frankly, get some butter and I am convinced the middle ones will pop out should the pen tighten its perimeter. A quiet huff escapes me as my mind thinks of other scenarios.
"So... Uh... Any idea how they might've got out? This gate over here doesn't look damaged at all?" I ask, wandering around what I am assuming to be the farm's entrance. I don't know, I've never really been near a farm before. Closest I ever got to one, in a clearly re-collectable memory, I was riding a massive vehicle.
Fiddling with the metalwork, I sway the sturdy door back and forth. It has all kinds of reinforcement. It's practically steel plating for a tower or tank. Thinking about it, actually, maybe I would be better off as thinking of it as a wall. This thing along is half a forearm thick!
I am honestly baffled and stuck between being impressed and concerned. Who on All-That-Remains wants to look after these animals...? Metal this thick is for skyscrapers. Gods above, I'm pretty sure the towers of Tobaballe have thinner reinforcement than this!
"Mind your feet, Young Man. Whatever happened, we won't be able to ask whoever was at the gate." Brewbrt grimly speaks and my eyes shift down. I hurry back, red, soaking the bandages on my feet. I walked into bloody pulp without even realising it. The crimson is barely tellable with how much it's been mixed into the mud.
Brewbrt flies into the field and raises a hand at me, shaking his head. I carry on trying to follow after him and realise his meaning. Going back a little, I stare after him. Gently kicking the gate, my mind slips to thoughts of how it looks when it's fully set up.
"What do you want me to do now?" I ask as he goes on into the muddy field. His magic stops him from slipping when it shifts abruptly. Pebbles forcing their way through the dirt with a filthy crunch and pop. All over the ground is like this, clear holes and signs of stomping. A certain locked up crowd being most likely responsible.
Brewbrt stops, his eyes catching something. He looks back to me, the narrowing of them clear even from here. They relax and he pops his hands on his hips. One rises to brush me away.
"Head back to my estate, please. I've got something to look at right now. Thank you for your help, Young Man." Brewbrt tells me and I slowly nod. Looking back at him as I keep lingering my thoughts on what he just did. Why did he narrow his eyes at me...?