A deep and rough voice echoed in his head, pleading for help. Teo was shocked.
It was just a random thought, an experiment. Who could have known that it would actually work?
Yes, thought transmission crossed all barriers of language —since it primarily transmitted meaning and not intonation— but it required the target to be self-conscious and capable of some matter of speech or coherent thought... something he had not expected to find in a Magical Beast.
Of course, they were far more advanced than regular animals, but... Teo still needed some time to get used to the idea of real non-humanoid intelligence. But, well, if it worked for Dragons and Griffins, why not for lower-ranked creatures? Maybe there were a lot of 'beasts' with their own thoughts, and they were just unable to voice them in an understandable manner. It was an intriguing thought.
'Help! Please!'
While Teo was still stuck in deep thought, he heard the voice once again, snapping him back to reality.
'Why should I help you?' Teo asked directly instead of beating around the bush.
'Me do anything. Don't want... to die!'
The voice did not sound evil, not at all. It was desperate. Alone. Teo could feel the pulsating waves of fear traveling through the mind-bridge. He could no longer bring himself to feel hate for this thing; for this... being.
'Do you think... I should save it?' he asked Goliath, not sure of what to think anymore. He had expected to find bloodlust and hate when he reached out with the mind-bridge, something that would confirm his expectations, yet he had been entirely wrong. It just wanted to live.
'Why ask me? I'm just a rock,' the Golem retorted in a clearly fake voice. Apparently, he was planning to stay neutral in this moral dilemma.
Left to his own devices, Teo could only contemplate the matter again. What guarantee did he have that the beast would not turn on him at the first opportunity after he saved it? None! It would be the natural thing to expect from a wild animal... But without his help, it would die.
Could he just watch on while it was butchered in front of him, uncaring for its fate?
No! He could not.
Sure, it was no saint, obviously. But neither was he, after... that.
Did it not deserve a chance as well?
So far, everything it did was technically in an effort to preserve its own life, which was understandable...
After giving the matter some thought, Teo finally came to a conclusion: He would help it. If it indeed turned out to be purely evil, he could just take care of it then — it wouldn't be too late, probably.
Having made his decision, he hacked his way through the pack of wolves and cleared a path towards the injured Magical Beast. It was already covered in wounds and must have lost a significant portion of blood, even for its size, but the wolves only continued their assault with increased vigor, uncaring for their growing losses.
It was a perplexing sight to Teo. Why were they so intent on ripping this more or less related canine to pieces? Surely there must be easier prey to hunt in a vast forest like this?
Unable to solve the mystery without sufficient research, Teo focused primarily on disabling the wolves that threw themselves at him. They at least showed some serious aggression towards him, making the choice quite easy.
Through blinding, wounding, and blasting away the wolves with a mix of Arcane and Fire Magic, he made good progress and soon reached the side of the wounded beast, carefully clearing out a small area around them.
Teo almost expected the Barghest to sink its deadly claws into his back as soon as he turned around and even told Goliath to watch out for sudden attacks, but all it did was collapse onto the ground weakly. It must have long surpassed its limit during this fight.
After struggling with Teo's impenetrable defense for a few more minutes, the pack finally gave up. They escaped the clearing with half the troops they had entered with, their furs singed, their bodies covered in lacerations of varying degrees, and their tails tugged neatly between their legs — victory, at last.
Teo was quite exhausted as well, and he too sat down on the stirred-up grass as soon as he felt safe again. It was not that hard for him to fight off a pack of wolves on his own, but the prior battle with the Barghest had drained him considerably, and the manic manner in which the wolves had thrown themselves at him was tough to deal with as well.
He too, had earned a break.
After catching his breath like this for a while, Teo focused on the mind bridge that he still shared with the wounded Magical Beast again. Thankfully, Goliath had a lot of experience in maintaining magical constructs in his stead whenever he lost focus on them, otherwise many of his efforts would be lost to passive dissipation.
Teo had initially thought, that the beast had lost consciousness as soon as the battle ended, but now that he could relax, he noticed that he could still feel the slight tugging of a weak mind on the other side of the bridge. It was awake, just resting its battered body. It was worth a shot to communicate with it again; he needed to see where this was going after all.
'Hey, uhhh... Mr. Barghest. How are you doing?' Teo tried to start a conversation in a natural way — and failed horribly. Somehow he was quite nervous, even though he was quite literally talking to a dog. This realization did not help, though, and now he felt even more like an idiot.
'Smooth.' Goliath added to the conversation casually, not missing out on a perfect opportunity to amuse himself. With his partial control over Teo's Mana, it was quite easy for him to eavesdrop, he just chose not to interfere until now.
'Was that really necessary?!' Teo objected vehemently. He was very thankful for his encounter with the small Golem, but sometimes he could truly understand how he had gotten himself deactivated as a defective product in the first place. He was about to give his friend another piece of his mind, when he heard a rough voice in his head once more.
'Hurt, bad. Alive. Thank you... Master.'
'Master?!' Teo exclaimed in shock, involuntarily sending the message down the mind bridge.
'Master saved me. Master good.'
The voice tried to explain, but seemed to lack the vocabulary to express itself adequately.
Teo did expect a lot of things, but nothing like this. He put his hand onto his forehead, trying to think this through.
Apparently, he had gotten himself a new pet to take care of. He had only been looking for some quick loot and had found another piece of work added to his already busy schedule instead. But it could have its bright sides as well.
In any case, it was better than being betrayed at the first best opportunity — even though he was still wary of that possibility.
But now was not the time to philosophize over his past decisions, for now at least, it did not seem to bear him any ill will and its wounds were in pressing need of being tended to — he better got to work now.
Owing to Teo's sufficient preparation, Goliath's storage space was packed with a variety of daily necessities as well as emergency- and survival-equipment. Bandages, ropes, torches, a fishing rod, even a few sets of fresh clothes, he had it all. It seemed he had learned from his past ventures and had begun to stockpile whatever could come in handy one day.
He was especially thankful for the set of freshly washed garments, as he felt all icky from the blood and gore on him and could definitely not show up at home in this attire.
With the materials prepared, Teo got down to tending the fresh wounds of the surprisingly docile Magical Beast, while Goliath cleared out anything valuable in the vicinity.
Who could have expected this outcome?