In the night sky, little twinkles of light flicker slowly. Playing hide and seek with the mortals as the slow-moving clouds offer the best hiding place. Even Pyetar enjoys the game from time to time. His little melodies sometimes ending more abruptly than expected.
The end of the day was more than welcome in the deserter's camp. The day had been hectic with the death of some of their scouts and their leader testing their readiness. Most go to sleep early, with each having reasons for their own. Groaning, sniffling, and snoring filling the many tents.
The turning brown leaves fall on the ground, carried by the gentle gushes of wind. The still-awake deserters make a crunching sound with each step they make, as nature continues to pile underneath them.
Most of the still-awake deserters are still busy gambling and drinking. Their game moved away from the camp as their loud yells and laughter became too much. "Even a Midium-chained wizard would have reacted." An awakened deserter said as he wielded his spear, prepared to commit yet another crime.
"By the light's grace, I hate standing guard at night." A younger man mutters, holding his spear shakily whilst also trying to clear his nose from the flowing snot.
"You just hate standing guard." The other next to him replies, the female voice sounding as rough as her scarred face.
"Even more precisely, I hate this place." The young man adds, scraping away some of the leaves that the small gushes of wind bring close to his feet.
"Not even welcoming of the leaves. You must be a delight at parties." The scarred woman says as she kicks some closer to her guard partner.
"I don't know… They just felt weird you know. Got a cold feeling and all." The young ma, mutters as he walks out of range of the leaves being kicked toward him. "Has anyone ever told you, you're an annoying bitch?"
"Plenty, greeny. All of them left with a face that matched my own. Do you want to join them?" The scarred woman holds up her fist and shield. The young man on guard takes another few steps back, his gaze moving from his guard partner to the forest outline.
*Crunch, crunch*
The sound of crunching can be heard in the distance, something four legged and probably rather large. The young man points his spear as his partner joins, grabbing her woodcutter's axe.
"What is it?" She asks as she stands slightly before the young man, holding her shield up.
"Something large and four legged. Are there bears around these parts?"
"There are wolves."
"mmmmhm."
The crunching sound continues to come closer at a rapid pace. Just like a wolf running to attack its prey. Both prepare themselves, the crunching sound just behind the distant bush line before it fall silent.
"What wa-" The scarred woman interrupts her speech as something walks out of the bushes. "Oink,Oink." A small piglet walks out, quite the fat creature for its small size. It sees the humans and takes a drastic left turn, running away at a pace unusual for its size.
The guards both sigh as they put away their weapon. The young man's hearth continuing to pounce like it did in his first skirmishes. "For Miesha's sake, I should have followed Tyr or Yisla.... Maybe even Fraed." The young man mutters, kicking the leaves that once again gather at his feet. The scarred woman does the same, finding brown leaves nearly burying her feet.
"How does this even happen. There isn't that much wind?" The woman says as she leans over to wipe away the fallen leaves. "Besides do you really want to join Fraed or Yisla on their trips. One is a boring old man looking for herbs and the other... never mind the last part."
"Yisla is a blood crazed murderer. You don't have to mince your words for me. I have seen it myself. But at least admit that joining Tyr would have been a better idea. I mean why are we still here? Why did we attack that village? I get it…. It was them or us. But why should we stay together? We're capable right? We can make a living somewhere else." The young man puts aside the spear as he sits next to a tree trunk. Fallen leaves gathering at his feet.
The scarred woman watches the travelling leaves for a bit, before she speaks. "What happened... Wasn't good... But we were desperate and desperate people do stupid shit. Maybe we're all we got you know? A bunch of cowards and thugs. Besides I rather stay in a group of outlaws than get captured by Sytrichian slave raiders." She says whilst looking at the bush that the fat little pig just came out of.
*Crunch, crunch, crunch*
The same sound as before enters their ears, but this time far more prevalent and more numerous. A small little stampede rushes closer. Both the guards forming the same formation as before as they prepare for whatever can appear. Six large pigs appears from beyond the bush line, their size near that of a young adult bear.
"Oink!" They see the humans and calmly stand their ground. Sniffing the ground before they turn left. Eating everything edible they come across as they continue to rapidly run.
"Are those the Norkan Piars? Fuck me they're larger than I thought." The young man says as he continues to point his spear toward the running of large pigs.
"You mean the waste feeders? They're that large?"
"Seems like they got a lot of food. Otherwise, they shouldn't reach that side."
*Crunch, crunch*
The same crunching sound appears again as another sole large Norkan Piar moves through the bush, still munching on whatever it has in its mouth. It stands there still looking at the guards as it continues to munch. A red color around its lips as a crunching sound accompanies the sound of his munching.
"Is that what I think it is?" The scarred woman asks before throwing her woodcutters axe. Hitting the large target right in its head as it falls over.
The thing he ate dropped out of its mouth. A soggy and nearly devoured arm now lies on the ground. The crunching sound from before was the sound of the beast chewing on the bone, splintering parts of the arm whilst the flesh has mostly been torn off. Hardly recognizable the arm appeared to be from an older person.
The scarred woman moves toward the beast and takes the wet by spit arm and smells it. She crunches her nose before dropping the arm.
"What are you doing?" The younger guard asks, holding his spear shakily.
"Its smells like saliva... and a lingering scent of herbs."
"You think its Fraed?"
"I'm sure it's Fraed. We're the only ones nearby. Those beasts wouldn't carry something around for longer than 10 minutes." The scarred woman turns around and grabs the woodcutter axe from the Norkan Piar's head. A small heap of leaves falling on top of her as she does. "But what killed it? Do yo-" The scarred woman turns around halting her words as she sees a large blue skinned thing leaning over a headless human with his spear dropped on the ground. The young man's head held firmly in one of the six hands of the creature. It's dark blue skin too blue to not stand out yet too dark to be considered clear. Fallen leaves gather at her feet as the beast rushes toward her.