Srsli
patreon
35: Under Siege
🕑 Added 2025-08-09 14:34:56 +0000 UTCNow that the fear of kidnapping was brought up again, I was truly worried about heading to Boltron, but as long as no one found out, we’d be fine, right?
“I’d really like not to be kidnapped again,” I muttered.
Hari let out a chuckle. “Don’t worry, Trev. We won’t let that happen. Nobody knows about the tea except us,” he said, reassuring me. “Right, let’s get this deconstructed and back to normal so we don’t draw attention. I spoke to everyone about the spider last night. They might just assume we’re talking about that.” Everyone got up from their seated positions and moved back to the main structure.
Luckily, the porridge didn’t burn at all while we were gone—I had completely forgotten to move the pot a decent distance from the flame, but it seems when Crisplet left the fire to come outside, it cooled down considerably.
I finished the breakfast by mixing in a touch of honey. I really had little left at this point, but I likely wouldn’t be able to restock until Boltron. Something told me I wouldn’t have a lot of freedom to explore without company, not that I minded that.
Thankfully, the rest of the morning passed without issue. We were quickly on the road, and I couldn’t help but notice that the team was all moving faster than normal with everything. It wasn’t an in-your-face speed change, but if you were paying attention, you would definitely notice something was off.
The journey was mostly uneventful. As we approached the mountain pass, the difference in terrain was stark. It felt like the temperature immediately dropped, and the terrain turned into a grey, sharp, rocky landscape. We were still a significant distance from Mt. Divinus itself, but the mountain range it dominated was heavily influenced by it.
I also couldn’t help but feel that Jen and Liane were both more on edge. Even when we stopped for lunch, we didn’t pull over anywhere; we simply stopped the wagons long enough for Troy to hand out some jerky to people. I didn’t have a lot of simple food like that on me, but I pulled a couple of the smaller Leaf Bladed Spiders on a stick for Liane, much to her delight.
Crisplet had stayed in an orb for the entire trip so far, still being held by Jen. Although I had some concerns—especially with everyone on edge—what would she do if a fight broke out? Just in case, I took the orb back from Jen and decided I’d try my best to ride one-handed. My dexterity was pretty high, so I should be able to do it... I hope.
It wasn’t until an hour or so later that I saw signs of civilisation. It looked almost like a mine or a quarry of sorts, but the whole place seemed abandoned. It was rather eerie. I also heard Jen mutter something about it being odd that it was empty.
Before I knew it, the wagons were coming to a halt, with Troy, Hari, and Milo coming to the back.
“I’m sure you can all tell that something is not right here,” Hari began, looking around at the scene of the mine. Troy looked to be the most concerned.
“In all the years I’ve passed through this town, I’ve never seen this site completely abandoned. It also looks like they dropped their tools,” Troy said, pointing to where tools were left on the floor.
“Hmm, Liane, could you scout it out for us? If you find anything dangerous, retreat immediately,” Hari instructed.
“Milo, let’s preemptively get some walls around the wagons, just in case,” he continued.
“Jen, get a good vantage spot and see if you can find anything. Trev, stay with the wagons and take cover with the horses should anything happen,” Hari finished, taking command. Troy seemed to have kicked into gear as well, heading over to Saddie, who was now looking out the back of her wagon to see what was going on.
I watched as stone walls appeared on either side of the wagons. It wasn’t full cover like during the ambush, but it still covered either side of the wagons. I was startled when Crisplet burst out of its orb shape.
“Don’t run off. It’s not safe,” I quickly whispered before the little flame elemental had a chance to float away from my hand. I got what I could only describe as a quizzical look, but Crisplet did not float away. Instead, he just stayed floating above my hand.
“If a fight happens, I want you to hide under the wagons, okay?” I said, to which I got a tiny burst of sparks, which I took as a yes.
The tension held for a long while until Liane returned. I couldn’t hear the full conversation between Troy, Hari, and Liane, but I caught snippets. From what I could tell, there were signs of an attack, but no bodies, and she couldn’t see any monsters in the area.
I noticed everyone was still on edge as we loaded back up. With everyone getting back on their horses and into the wagons, I heard a command from Hari up front.
“Right! We’re going to head to the village. There’s been an attack here, but we can’t see any casualties. Everyone, be alert,” he yelled out. Then we slowly moved forward.
I really wanted to ask what sort of creatures would attack here, but unfortunately, it was clear that Liane and Jen would not be chatting anytime soon. They were both looking around for any movement.
It was a long couple of hours before the village came into sight, and it grew more concerning as we approached because it seemed far too quiet. This was amplified by the fact that there were no guards posted at the front entry.
“Hmm, something is wrong here,” Liane voiced what I’m sure we were all thinking.
As we came down the path and entered the village, the first thing I noticed was that it wasn’t empty, as I had first thought. There were people hiding inside their homes, looking out through their doorways as we entered. But the main thing that stood out to me was the destroyed buildings, like their roofs had been ripped off.
“What has happened here?” Jen muttered, looking around.
We didn’t have to wait long to find out. An elderly gentleman came out of a semi-destroyed longhouse in the middle of the town and met Hari in the middle of the road. He was quickly joined by the rest of the team, myself and Troy included.
“What has happened here?” Hari asked the man, getting off his horse but keeping his hand on his weapon just in case, as the rest of the group dismounted and approached—well, except for Liane, who seemed to vanish as she walked around her horse.
“We’ve been under attack. Are you here to help?” the old man said, with a slight tremble in his voice.
“Attack? Start from the top. What has been happening?” Hari said calmly.
“We can’t—we can’t talk here; we’re too exposed. They’ll come,” the old man said in a trembling voice, looking to the skies. Hari let out a long sigh.
“Milo, cover us,” Hari ordered. “Sir, who are you, and what is happening?” Hari stated with a serious tone, seemingly snapping the old man back to focus. They were soon covered with a dome of rock that had a couple of arched entrances on either side.
“Sorry—sorry. My name is Londor. I’m the chief of Rockhampton here. We’ve been under attack for a week now and have sent several people for help. Galvonsons...” he said, seemingly more at ease now that we were all covered.
“I see. So, multiple Galvonsons have attacked your village. Did a hunter anger them?” Hari asked.
“No, sir. We don’t venture higher into the mountains to hunt; we usually head to the plains or back towards the forest. The birds are coming from above, up towards the peaks,” Londor explained.
“Well, that’s problematic,” Hari said, looking over at Troy, who also looked incredibly concerned.
“I’d say they have begun nesting in the mountains here, and this village has fallen into their territory as a result,” Troy explained. “You said you had sent people to get help?”
“Yes, sir. We were hoping you were the help. I had three people go towards Boltron and two towards Forest’s Edge,” Londor explained.
“We’ve seen no one on the road from Forest’s Edge to here,” Hari said with a sombre tone, knowing that it’s possible they didn’t make it.
“We’ll talk shortly, Londor. We need to have a discussion on what we’re going to do,” Troy said to Londor before beckoning Hari closer to the wagons.
Londor seemed to take the hint and returned to the doorway of his longhouse, which was now covered in stone.
As Troy got some distance, he practically hissed, “What are we going to do? We can’t chase the Galvonson up the mountain.”
“No, you’re right, we can’t. The issue is, if what the old man says is true, we will almost certainly be attacked while travelling over the next day,” Hari sighed. “If we leave these people here, they will almost certainly all die unless help comes—and fast. We could take them with us, but again, when, not if, we get attacked, they will be at risk during the fight.”
Troy let out a weary sigh. “Well, those two options are troublesome, aren’t they? And I could have blood on my hands either way?” With that, he beckoned Londor back over.
When the older man approached, Troy took the lead this time.
“We won’t be able to go into the mountains to chase down the nest, but if you remain here, you’ll almost certainly die. Soon we’ll be departing on our way to Boltron. We passed no one on our way here, so I would encourage whoever remains to come with us until the situation is dealt with,” Troy said firmly, now with Saddie nodding alongside, looking worriedly around her.
“We can’t just leave our ho—” Almost prophetically, a screech cut through the air in the distance. The look of fear that crossed Londor’s eyes sent chills down my spine.
“I’ll gather everyone,” Londor said.
After a short amount of time, there was a small gathering of only twenty or so people—several elderly and a few children as well. Troy mostly repeated what he had said to Londor, not mixing his words in explaining the danger if they remained. He let them know we would leave in twenty minutes, and anyone who wanted to join us to Boltron was welcome to do so.
After a couple of minutes of murmuring, it seemed most in the group had come to a consensus and rushed back to their homes to grab what few belongings they could carry.
Troy and Saddie, respectively, were both sorting their wagons to squeeze in some more seating room. It wouldn’t hold everyone, but at least the elderly and children wouldn’t need to walk.
Hari grabbed my attention, along with the others in the party. I still hadn’t seen Liane, but I knew she’d be somewhere close by.
“Trev, we’re almost certainly going to be attacked over the next day, so if you don’t mind, now would be the perfect time to eat some of that food you prepared last night for its buffs,” Hari said, looking at Milo with an unspoken word. Milo surrounded the group with a box of stone. Crisplet and even Liane appeared inside. He then added a table-like structure on the side.
Seeing no reason not to, I brought out the kettle of Lemon Tea Grass, along with the Juvenile Phase Spider I had prepared. Everyone seemingly took just enough to receive their buffs.
“Perfect, thanks, Trev. You can save the rest,” Hari said.
“While I have you all here, I’ll say our focus should be to ground the Galvonson when we’re attacked. If we allow it to escape, it will probably return with the help of its mate; we need to try to stop that. Milo, your first focus will be to protect the people. Liane and Jen, if you can try to poison it to weaken it, that would be perfect. I will try to block its strikes. Trev, you’re not combat-focused, but I need you to make sure no one in the caravan tries to run. If they draw the attention of the bird, they will die.”
Everyone nodded, and with that, the surrounding structure was removed. I reached down to grab Crisplet.
“Hey, Crisplet, we’re likely going to get into combat, so I’m going to place you in my pocket to keep you safe, okay? I know you like to look, but today it’s important that you hide,” I said in my most reassuring tone. It seemed Crisplet could at least sense the fear or concern in my voice because he collapsed into his fire orb form, and I was not showered with sparks when I placed him in my pocket this time.
Once the twenty minutes were up, Troy and Saddie were helping to load people into the wagons. Jordan had joined the driver at the front. It seemed like everyone would come; the only person who would remain was Londor.
“Are you sure about staying?” Hari asked the old man.
“I must. Someone needs to be here in case help returns. My home is the strongest, and I have a couple of weeks’ worth of food and water. I should be fine,” Londor tried to reassure him.
“If you light a fire or come outside, you will most likely be targeted, so you need to be very cautious,” Hari said in a very stern voice.
Londor just nodded and went to say farewell to the people. It was strange to witness because although when he spoke to Hari he sounded confident, when he spoke with the other villagers, it was clear neither of them expected to see each other again.
Surprisingly, most of the villagers fit into the two wagons. Just a small handful of the men stayed on foot. The hope was, since the Galvonson usually didn’t hunt at night, it would hopefully be safer to move through the darkness despite the inherent dangers of trying to travel through the mountain pass at night.
And so, even as the sun was dipping low in the sky, the group began to move out.
