Fighting Monsters
Without hesitation I circulated my aura through my body as five figures launched towards us. They looked like wolves for the most part but their shoulders and front limbs were closer to humans. A black mist wafted off their fur obscuring their movement and even lessening other traces such as smell and sound. It was a common feature of monsters related to the shadow element.
At this point it was hard to tell if they were corrupted wolves or if the beast of Dera duen had turned some of the villagers. Humans didn't corrupt into monsters as easily as animals but with the power of an apocalypse beast, anything was possible.
I readied my sword to swing at the first werewolf to launch itself at me but my horse began to panic. Damn beast was supposed to be trained to not fear monsters. Instead I had to settle for deflecting it's leap before pulling the reins to set myself up to slice into the side of the next one. Unfortunately it wasn't a clean slice, leaving only a minor wound.
A third went low raking its claws into my horse's front before I could pull it out of the way. I had never been good at mounted combat, a flaw my father was never able to correct despite his best efforts. Focusing more on defense than offense I was able to keep them at bay. If I wasn't with Vesta I would have used my Lineage Aura, which would have given me a definitive advantage. But with the knowledge she already displayed, there was no way she wouldn't be able to trace it back to my father's family.
Vesta seemed to be handling herself well. A silver sheen surrounded her and her mount, the monster's claws glanced off the magic unable to make contact with flesh. One of the werewolves let out a pained cry that was a mix of human and animal as a wave of fire launched from her wand.
Now sensing her to be the bigger threat, one of the werewolves attacking me disengaged and dove towards Zephyr's hind legs. The mount kicked backwards with a streak of silver magic. When it's hooves made contact with the monster, it left a silver hoof imprint that burned on the side of its face.
With my enemies reduced, I was able to counterattack. A swipe of my sword took one of them in the leg after it tried to back away after I deflected its claws. The other thought it now had an opening, only for me to pull the horse hard towards it. The horse took another wound but I had thrown off the werewolves momentum lessening the damage. I was then able to slash towards its throat dealing a severe blow.
The other werewolf recovered and from the other side of the horse was able to land a swipe of its claws on my leg. The strength of my aura circulating through my blood reduced the damage and allowed me to lessen the loss of blood.
I was able to ignore the one with a neck wound and charged toward the one that hit me. It went on the defensive dodging or using it's hardened claws to deflect my sword. Having learned its movements I had it set up for a critical counterswing when a howl came from the other group. The werewolf disengaged before I could deliver the fatal blow.
One of them that was attacking Vesta was burning on the ground dead. The other two were also severely wounded and had started to retreat back into the tall grass. The two near me started to do the same, but I wasn't going to let them. The one with a throat wound was already having trouble staying up, making it an easy target for me to finish off.
"Hold back." I called to Vesta as she moved Zephyr toward the tall grass.
"Why?! They're on the run." She said.
"It's too dangerous. It's almost sunset, and my mount is wounded are good reasons. Also we'd be entering unknown territory with the possibility of other stronger monsters attacking." I said.
"Fine. It's just that shadow natured werewolves are a rarer subspecies and they make for unique magic reagents." She said.
"Be happy with the two we have. Any more and people might start asking questions. In fact I think it's best if we just say these were the only two that attacked us." I said.
"Fine. Though if either of their hearts turned into monster cores, they're mine." She said.
Monster corpses could be used in a variety of ways. Their blood, biles, bones, hides, and organs were used in alchemy and artificing. Depending on the species their meat could be very tasty with the ability to slightly increase one's aura. The best resource that could come out of a corpse was a monster core. At death there was a chance that the creature's aura would fully retract into its heart turning it into a hard crystal with a wide range of uses in magic. There was less of a chance but a similar crystal could form in humans but it was considered a taboo to us a human core.
I hopped off my horse and began inspecting its wounds. They weren't life threatening, though it would be best not to ride it for the next few days.
"I don't suppose you know any spells to help here." I said. With the arcane magic that Vesta and I used, healing spells were rather difficult. Those who followed the various gods and spirits in the world had that ability.
Vesta had dismounted and was pulling the corpses into her storage ring. When she was finished, she came to inspect my mount. As she moved her wand over the wound a blue light appeared. My horse visibly calmed as Vesta reduced its pain. A golden brown light replaced the blue as an earthy paste covered the wounds. During this time I inspected and cleaned my own wound. It was shallow and would heal quickly with the aid of my aura.
"This is the best I can do. Just don't ride it back to camp." She said.
With that we headed back. Taking twice as long, we arrived back after sunset. The Vice Captain was just about to ride out with some people to look for us. At first she gave me an inquisitive look with a slight smile, it took me a moment to realize why she thought we were late. Our altered telling of the attack changed that look for a moment but I could tell she still thought something more happened prior.
The company harvesters weren't too happy about having to stay up longer to butcher monsters. But when they saw what type of monsters they knew they would get a decent bonus for what they could acquire from the corpses, that changed their attitudes rather quickly. Butchering monsters was different enough from butchering normal animals that specialists were a must for any group hunting monsters to get the most out of the bodies. I was trained from an early age as a harvester but that was another thing that might leave an impression.
The next morning I got an ear full from the Master of Horses about my mount's wound and a gold coin bonus from Vulferam. Under my contract, any monsters I slew became the property of Vulferam and a bonus was given based on the quality of the resources harvested from the corpses. I was surprised that he gave the low grade monster core to Vesta, though I learned later that since she wasn't under contract, the one she killed didn't belong to him. While a core was valuable, the full body of a rare subspecies could potentially earn him more.
The next few days Vesta tended to ride next to me. We didn't talk much beyond the weather and any minor incidents happening in the caravan. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement to not talk about our past. I caught the Vice Captain's smirks every once and a while when she looked in our direction.
When Vesta wasn't riding next to me the chilly suspicion would return to my heart. These were also the times that Diocles would make his way towards me. He always had the same line of conversation. Stick with him when things get rough, just follow his lead even if it doesn't make sense. Wassa tended to be nearby, giving me flirtatious encouragement to go along with what Diocles was saying. If not doing that, then she was giving Vesta some jealous side eye.
Their whole line of conversation didn't make sense to me until we were about three days from leaving the empty plains. We came upon an area of rolling hills with small copse of trees spread out. The Vice Captain was more vigilant, saying this was good terrain for ambushes from monsters or even bandits.
Little did I know how connected all of this was going to be.