Zadkeil agreed, it was much better to learn from an established place than to just pick things up at random and expect them to work. After discussing some of the smaller details and cleaning up their mess of Cores, Jacob rode Shortie beside the cart and entered town.
Teksivion was a little bit bigger than last year. More store and stalls lined the streets and the population had more than doubled. The roads between the the streets were packed with people and just passing through the crowd was a safety risk. People peered at goods and the people inside from time to time but the children inside would always kick them wildly.
Jacob felt like talking but he was caught up in the new additions to the City on the Frontier, a few magical machines that resembled crude robots were being used as digging machines nearby and someone was walking around in it in the City. There were also a number of Beastkin had come, they remained in packs and stuck to themselves. They carried their items in their hands. Jacob felt grateful that he didn't have to seek out a spacial ring, he already had two.
His stature and Shorties body stuck out like sore thumbs. If they had not been next to a carraige, there would have been many more eyes locked onto him and not in the friendly way. Jacob looked like an easy target, he also looked unequipped. The clothes he was wearing were tattered and he mostly wore hides across his body.
Zadkeil managed to quickly sell of the Cores and found himself without anything to do. He invited Jacob to join them for Dinner later, they would leave after the Suns rose the next day.
Dinner was nice and the exit from town was peaceful, most people waited until they got into the Frontier before they openly attacked others. The Empire had a vested interest in explorers and protecting them, was protecting themselves in the future.
Still, no safety can be guaranteed. Along the way, Jacob spotted a group of people hanging from a tree. They were all dead and burn marks covered their torsos.
Even Zadkeil threw up at the sight, there were children among the dead.
Jacob couldn't bare the sight, he leapt into the tree and cut them down. He was intent on burying them. Shortie helped dig but there were eleven of them. "Who would do this? I thought you said the Empire protected it's citizens? This is not the work of wild beasts but people."
"Shut your little mouth, how dare you cut down out trophies!" A mousy voice came from behind the tree. "Don't you know, this place is ours. Drop everything.. or." The man's eyes settled on Shortie and the words were caught in his throat momentarily. He whistled to signal his friends and four more men came out of the thicket.
"Even if you have a beast, its five against the three of you. Do you really think you can keep that Old Man safe?" One of the thieves pulled a spear from his back and pointed it toward Shortie's face and neck.
"I'm no pushover!" Zadkeil flicked his fingers and threw a glass ball toward the thieves, smoke exploded when it crashed on the ground. He slapped the reins and darted down the road.
'Did he just leave me here?' Jacob watched Zadkeil fleeing with his family, it didn't bother Jacob or Shortie much and there were others, including his granddaughter in the cart. It was too risky to stay and leaving was actually the best choice for him.
With the odds turned against him, the two versus five match had already begun. The thief with the spear charged toward Shortie.
Shortie barked and kept out of reach but two of the others had tried to box him in with spears.
"What's wrong kid? Your precious pet can't help you now." The Bandit pulled a saber from his belt and threw a dagger.
Jacob dodged, the man was just too far away but when Jacob had moved out of it's path, the fifth man had a large mace coming directly for Jacob's head. Jacob threw himself to the ground and rolled out of the way.
The Mace crashed into the ground, it kicked up dust. The dust helped hide Jacob for half a second before the Bandit with the Saber was already in front of him.
Jacob materialized a spear in his hands, it materialized inside of the Saber wielding Bandit and he coughed up blood in the next instance.
Looking down at Jacob's finger, the bandit was shocked. Spacial Rings were not uncommon but children rarely had such wealth and it was easy for him to overlook. Had the ring been visible, he might have even changed tactics. The man fell over but the spear was embedded in his chest.
Jacob moved back a few steps. In the distance, he could see Shortie bouncing around to avoid the Spear tips of the Trio.
The Man with the Mace swung it in an uppercutting motion. Energy erupted from the Mace and a neon yellow beam flew toward Jacob.
Jacob flashed across the soil and jumped back but the wave of energy was still flowing toward him. As he landed, he stepped to the side and grabbed a rock. There was a moment of panic from the Trio that caught the Mace wielder's attention and Jacob threw the rock before disappearing into the trees.
He circled around to Shortie's position and threw a bundle of herbs. When they got wet, they would mix and create a large amount of smoke that always made Jacob sleepy. He wasn't sure if what he was doing was nice but there were puddles at the roadside.
Shortie took the opportunity to bite one of them on the neck and slam him into another of the Spearmen. The spears were not as strong as the bandits had hoped, Shortie's fur was closer to Iron fibers. The spears sparked and snapped.
After releasing his jaw and dropping one of the corpses to the ground, Shortie howled.
Jacob grabbed at a loose spear and caught the last Spearman in the back with it. The Bandit fell over and stopped moving, Jacob assumed he was dead but the spear was easier to remove than the last one.
Shortie saw the mace wielding bandit on his way toward the Cart's direction and sprinted off without Jacob.
The Cart was only a few hundred meters away, Zadkeil gave himself enough room to view the battle without endangering his escape route.
Jacob collected everything, including the corpses and started to sprint toward the Cart. Shortie would arrive long before him but Jacob's desire to fight had been stoked like a fire. He had nearly died several times and it was his first time taking a life. The Adrenaline in his body made him feel lighter and his speed increased.
Shortie had landed on top of the thief, he crushed his chest with his paw and bit down on the man's head until he stopped kicking.
Jacob saw the scene and even from afar it was somewhat jarring for him to watch. After killing two people himself just a moment ago and then seeing Shortie literally biting someone's head off, Jacob stopped running to throw up.
The Adrenaline in his body had worn off and he turned pale. The battle just then had been more than he could have predicted or would have given thought.
Jacob's actions brought a sense of confidence to Zadkeil, their journey would undoubtedly be safer during the trip ahead. "How did you survive for a year with no shelter, wait.. don't tell me.." 'This kid is just too damned lucky.' Zadkeil shook his head and gave up conversation.
Jacob didn't look like he could manage much, after collecting the corpse of the fifth bandit he rode the carriage quietly in the front. There was a long ride ahead and many more things could happen before then.
It took a while to get use to the terrain on the Cart but eventually Jacob didn't feel the rocks so much as he swayed from side to side.
Shortie was loving the new area, there were lots of small creatures for him to run off and catch. Occasionally on the way, Jacob went out to hunt but there were so many things in his ring to eat that hunting was only necessary for Shortie. One hunt a day was sufficient but Shortie's appetite was only growing. Just a year before, a week could pass between their need to find more food.
It took more than just a day for him to normalize, his time spent at the church back home had taught him not to take a life, especially in anger. All of the lessons about life he had learned spoke about how sacred life was and in only a little over a year, he had been forced to kill to survive.
Jacob's underestimation of the world he had been living in slowly sank into his mind. Like an egg cracking, he felt drained and bare.
Zadkeil could see the look on Jacob's face. It was easier for him, as an adult to compromise his necessity for life but in truth, he couldn't relate. "Death has always been a part of life, you're either prey or not." He tried to console Jacob a little and it wasn't for nothing.
Jacob sped up a little to pull ahead of the group while on Shortie's back.
Shortie thought about Jacob's mood but let it go. Shortie had already been killing the whole time, one human, three.. it didn't matter, he would defend himself no matter what.
Jacob's mood lightened a little bit when an outpost finally came into view, only four more and they would be back at the Capital.