halazoa was bored with nothing to do but eat jerky and drink wall water she had even tried jumping back up to the broken window jumping about 50 times before giving up.
instead she starts doing laps around his cage to pass the time.
getting faster with each lap the day flies by, not even able to talk to herself encouragingly apparently telling yourself you can do this in your head isn't as effective as repetitive physical affirmation.
you know they say talking to yourself is crazy but halazoa might just lose it from not being able to talk to herself.
with nothing else to do Its jerky then wall water then constant running a few days more pass like this before davies finally shifts back into human form his cry of pain and the sickening sound of breaking bones waking halazoa from a dead sleep she dashes over to the cage tail wagging.
....
davies comes to drenched in sweat he lifts up a floorboard reaching in and pulling a lever the cage swings open revealing the wolf caked with dirt and blood sitting there wagging her tail.
seeing the window and the fact that half his supply of jerky was gone davies just sighed and started climbing up the stairs the wolf right behind him.
not having time before he goes about collecting all the body's of the royal scouts dragging them away from his cabin and burying them the wolf following the whole time,even helping dig the graves.
looking at the wolf's behavior he knew it wasn't normal but she seemed to be alone in the world and davies was no stranger to being alone.
he looked at her tail wagging you could tell she enjoyed digging and something about her enjoying it made him feel glad that they had found each other.
....
elsewhere in the noble kingdom of takonfalst
benrmtar was making his report on the location of that foul beast and his mangy wolfdog the nobles responded by laughing at him.
your entire squad was bested by 1 war beast
and you dare show face to us?
(over the years the decline of war beasts have made the nobles feel that war beasts as whole were weak inferior beings no better than guard dogs having completely forgotten the true strength of purebloods)benrmtar grits his teeth
saying please forgive me most eminent council of nobles I was not expecting that foul stupid beast to use so many cruel traps half my men were wiped out before the battle started, he had trained forest animals to attack I even saw one my men get bit by a poisonous
snake.
please give me another chance with a larger force and maybe a war beast or two I promise I will have the creature in irons and at your feet as soon as possible.
everyone was dead quiet waiting for the council head to come to decision.
the man was a viscount who acquired his position through blackmail and illicit business deals his name is viscount marceed elvone and is known as the most corrupt nobleman in the world a man so vile he sold his last three wives into slavery just because they were unable to satisfy him.
the long drawn out silence is unbearable but no one dares speak until finally marceeds thin raspy voice echoes out into the lavish councilroom.
five scouts,one war beast, a twenty man regiment of mercenary soldiers and one ignited orb(a magic orb excavated from the ruins of the evil sorceress halazoa enables the user to freely manipulate fire burns out and explodes if overused)
with this much support you will be executed if you fail again so keep that in mind.
benrmtar grinds his teeth choking down his hatred of the man he says
thank you your eminence I promise u I will not waste this opportunity.
see that u dont marceed says or I will take pleasure in torturing you till the only thing you want out of life is death.
now get out of my sight.
benrmtar sets out with his forces with a twisted smile once I claim that warbeast you'll get yours old man he thought to himself.
at the same time five soldiers were carrying the warbeast in heavy metal cage to one of the wagons.nearby one of the scouts A scar faced woman with redish brown hair named silgari doaron looked in on the poor beast in its human form it was skin and bones dirty and naked its eyes dull and lifeless.
she wanted to help but knew she would probably be executed for trying.
maybe she'll have a chance when the fighting starts?
the man in cage didn't have a name at least not one he remembered.
when not being made to kill people he was just called mutt recently, he had refused to kill some children in a orphanage his master had wanted shut down and as a result was starved and beaten for over a week before being volunteered for this mission .
he was actually hoping to lucky enough to die on this mission.
mutt and silgari didn't know it yet but there luck was better than they thought because every minute they marched closer and closer to their destiny.
as they slowed down and got ready to camp for the night silgari snuck off with a handful of bread she stealthily avoided guards and made her way to the tent mutt was being kept in.
hey silg he whispered as she slipped in
hiya mutt she responded a little too loudly
eliciting a bunch of shushing from mutt.
what? she says all the soldiers are too busy stuffing their faces to worry about us.
they never feed u anything so this is really the best time to come see you.
mutt kinda sulks a bit annoyed that she keeps putting herself at risk for someone like him.
silg thinks that tomorrow they will enter the forest and soon after the fighting starts they'll release him to fight whatever twisted monstrosity they dug up this time if she wants to save him she'll have to escape with him before that happens thell send the scouts first so if she circles back and makes her move before they return she might be able to rescue him.
...
talinenger senses the nobles forces just outside the forest now back in his mouse form he watches over halazoa and Davies from behind a nearby bookshelf.
worried cause he has no way to warn her without the other gods seeing it he paces back and forth on his little hind paws,and if halazoa could see him it would be obvious hes not a normal mouse.
tired of not being able to do anything he makes his way down to the basement turning into a gopher he digs into the dirt floor making his way towards the enemies camp because while he cant directly interfere with halazoa he can definitely mess with the nobles the other gods not giving a shit about them.
still though better that he sticks to animal forms better safe than sorry.
he breaks ground just outside their camp just as Dawn's first light breaks through the clouds.
just in time to see a lone scout suspiciously sneaking back into camp.
he decides to follow her turning into a squirrel he dashes up onto the tents jumping from tent to tent he follows her to mutts cage digging in the ground nearby she pulls out some dirty rucksacks from the dirt then pulling out some lock picks gets to work unlocking the cage the malnourished man inside wakes up and seeing what shes doing trys to get her to stop.
please silg you'll be killed for this I dont want you to die for me.
ignoring him she finally unlocks his cage pulling some scouts uniform from one of the rucksacks and with uncompromising look on face tells him to get dressed .
seeing what's happening talinenger sees it as an opportunity as he cant directly warn halazoa and davies but that dosen't mean he can't have someone else warn them.
focusing on the women named silg he projects his best god voice into her head.
scoutswoman you have chosen a perilous path
only destiny or death awaits you I the god talinenger see only one path to safety you must make way onto the cabin in the forest and warn them before the other scouts return only they can protect you now.
one more thing I'm not really supposed to be helping you so keep it to yourself .
...
hearing the gods voice in her head was creepy to say the least and silgari didn't trust him one bit but her and mutt didn't have a lot of other options so they quickly made their way to the cabin the god talinenger following overhead as a crow.
...
making her some extra meaty porridge for breakfast davies wondered about this wolf who wasn't a wolf who had taken it upon herself to climb up into a chair at the dining table barking at him to hurry up with the food.
splitting the portion into two bowls he places hers on the table before sitting across from her.
halazoa immediately chows down eliciting a chuckle from davies half expected you to use a fork he mumbles to himself.
just then front door swings open mutt and silg bursting in the door panicking and yelling about an army ,but mutt is quietly staring at davies knowing instinctually that hes his father.
he and the others thought he died trying to escape. most of the other war beast died in petty disputes between nobles you could probably count the survivors on one hand.
with tears welling up mutt falls to his knees
why he sobs why if your still alive why didn't you come save us ?
davies looked down at mutt the pain behind his eyes obvious he says we'll get into that later if what you say is true we better be going he starts gathering things in a large camping bag while halazoa sniffs around mutt and silg.
it's not gonna bite us it ?silg asked nervous.
probably not unless you deserve it Davies says with a smile as he finishes up packing his bag.
...
talinenger circles overhead wondering what's taking them so long when he sees a couple scouts coming out of the woods knowing the mercs aren't far behind them he flys closer to the cabin screeching loud for silg to hear run! now he says in her head.
she grabs mutts arm pulling him to his feet we she says we gotta go now.
sliding his axes onto the side of his bag he pulls his bag on leading them out the back door he says
come on then let's get out of here.
...
as they disappear deeper into the forest of echoes talinenger spots the mercs surrounding the cabin he circles around one more time
pooping on benrmtar before following after halazoa.
...
the forest of echoes was called that because the sound of all the things living in it constantly
echoed through it thanks to the echo trees that gave the forest its name.
that's why davies lived on the outskirts because deeper into the forest it was too loud for anyone to live especially so for those with enhanced hearing.
which is why the nobles lackeys were unlikely to enjoy following them.
halazoa didn't enjoy it either in fact if she was a normal wolf she wouldn't have even tried to go deeper it was like a cross between a orchestra of sick animals and nails on a chalkboard but way worse.
davies didn't seem bothered but mutt was having a worse time than halazoa he could barely walk under the onslaught silg was practically holding him up.
regardless they made themselves walk deeper into the dark woods the cacophony getting louder and louder.