Through the night nothing extraordinary happened.
Except for Jeffrey seeing a Firebird in the distance. It had been a long time since he saw a Firebird.
As the sun rose. Karl woke everyone up. He and Jeffrey had stayed up the whole night together, neither of them wanting to sleep while being watched by the other. Though in Jeffrey's case it was more not wanting to sleep while being watched at all.
Both of them were mildly sleep deprived, but it didn't bother them much. Jeffrey was a farmer who lived on the front of the frontiers, whilst Karl was an elite scout from a frontier fortress city. They were both experienced in their own regard.
Saddling up, Karl once more took the lead, Jeffrey sharing a horse with the whiney scout as he did before. It was still early morning, the sun had barely risen. Whilst they could have travelled through the night. It should be known that in this frontier, roads aren't developed in the slightest due to the severe lack of traffic as well as an abundance of monsters and other beasts. Without enough culling these beasts regularly attack travellers, decreasing the number of travellers willing to come through this area.
Of course, with all these factors, travelling in the middle of the night would be asking to get lost and assaulted by monsters.
Though luck did not seem to be on the side of this merry group, despite the appearance of a Firebird...
Not long after their morning departure…
*GRRR* *Ruff Ruff*
"Sacred stars mate." Karl groaned. They just had to encounter a pack of Black Hounds. Not to mention, these Black Hounds look bigger than usual.
"Everyone! Dismount and get in position! You two can just stand behind us." Being on the frontiers, a fight with Black Hounds was common. He would be an extremely poor leader if he lost his composure due to this. Fleeing would be rather redundant and a waste of energy, Black Hounds were known for being unyielding pricks that always chased their prey unless they were shown the difference in strength. It was better to just kill them now and not later.
Looking behind him, he saw that Jeffrey and Jim had complied with his orders and stayed to the back, Karl heaved a sigh of relief, he didn't want that guy to make the situation take a turn suddenly. Their horses had left, for the time being, the scouts would call them back after the fight was over.
Facing the Black Hounds, there were one… two… four of them. Not even counting the cubs and juveniles that stayed in the back. There were at least three of those. They were rather outnumbered in this fight. Karl felt he was having a bad luck streak as if the stars above had cursed him.
*Awoo*
The call of the alpha brought Karl back to reality. Drawing his short sword he called out to his men.
"Get ready!" The scouts stayed in a tight formation surrounding the two farmers in the middle. Jeffrey had already brought out a weapon combo he had found was best for dealing with multiple enemies while being mindful of the surroundings. Holding a hammer in his right hand and a sickle in his left, Jeffrey reminisced about how he found this epic weapon combo.
There was a rat infestation, and he had to deal with the rats without damaging his house and harming his livestock. He would usually use a scythe or poison for so many scuttling critters, but that would cause too much damage if used within his own farm, which lead to him finding out about this weapon combination. It worked like a charm.
As the Black Hounds slowly drew near and surrounded them, Karl took the initiative. Slashing out at the Hound nearest him, his blade sunk deep into the Hound and cut through the neck of the Hound, instantly killing it!
Or that was what should have happened. Instead, the blade just made a small knick, not to mention that the Hound even counter attacked and swiped at Karl's sword arm. Cutting right through his arm guard and drawing immense blood.
"Tss, shite! These Hounds ain't normal," a normal Black Hound did not have a pelt thick enough to shrug off a sword slash like that, not mentioning that its claws were able to pierce through his leather arm guards like it was butter, there was most certainly something wrong here.
"Gods damn it," that was when he realised something different about these Hounds, their mangled fur as well as their blood red eyes, and the faint signs of decay and rot around their body.
It was a Barghest.
He had truly underestimated his enemy this time, to think he would run into a Barghest! And a pack of them at that!