by John Nest
"Thanks, Mom," said Sherry and took another sip.
Happily, she tidied things up in the kitchen and headed back to her room. She had time to get another power nap before logging back into her realm of inspiration.
* * * * * *
Dazzling rays of the rising sun greeted another day in Zectas. The returning Vigilantez were sleeping under the cool cover of trees.
Sierra opened her eyes and saw the back of Gandiva's carriage. She was joined by half of the rescued children, among which was one of the eldest—a Lioumerean girl.
Out of curiosity, Sierra observed her and found her to be very brave. She guessed she was probably still in her mid-teens, even though she acted mature for her age. While the other children still quivered in fear, the pantheress Lioumerean covered them with blankets.
Sierra wanted to stay with the children and show them that she was friendly. She had some success in talking to the older ones, but the really young children were clearly still terrified by her cursed form. The red werebear grabbed the other blankets on the side and followed the girl's lead.
"It's very sweet of you to take care of them," said an inspired Sierra to the young pantheress.
The girl did not answer and only stared back at her. Five seconds passed and the girl just kept staring. Sierra felt uneasy and tried to change the subject.
"Have you eaten yet? I'm sure you're famished," said Sierra with a smile and tapped on a sleeping Gandiva's shoulder.
The tigress Lioumerean strained her neck to look behind her carriage. "Hey...welcome back, Sierra, good morning," replied Gandiva groggily.
"Morning. Has someone prepared breakfast yet? I think the kids could use some pick-me-up," said Sierra with a smile. "And how's Tulin doing?"
"He's getting better. If taken care of, the antlers should grow back in about two months," Gandiva said in a troubled voice.
"Don't worry about it," said Sierra. "You two are the best at taking care of a stag moose. I bet their antlers will grow back in no time."
Gandiva nodded and replied, "You don't have to worry about breakfast. I think Adder and his team took care of it. At least, they said they would before I switched lookout with Laernea."
"That's great," replied Sierra energetically. "I'll let the men know that it's time to eat. Can you tell the children that the food is ready?"
"Sure, will do," answered Gandiva.
As Sierra was about to leave carriage, she drew closer to Gandiva and whispered in her ear, "By the way, who's the pantheress Lioumerean?"
"Oh, that's Vrai," Gandiva responded all knowingly. "She reminds me of myself when I was younger. Apparently, she's like the their mother, and the children also have a father-like figure as well," she said as she pointed to a young cheetah Lioumerean over on Laernea's carriage.
"Thanks, I think I'll talk to those two during breakfast," replied Sierra as she left to investigate their encampment.
Werewolves were scouting the area, while the Tikbalangs scattered to specific positions around the central camp. The Vigilantez made a circular formation and kept the rescued children and goblins inside the inner circle.
Together with Adder, Laernea and Gandiva; Sierra only had ninety-six Tikbalangs, sixty-two Werewolves, thirty Centaur Rangers and fifteen Condortlian Warriors with her. They were tasked to protect two-hundred-twelve Gobble Goblins and twenty rescued children of different races back to Verbrannt.
Although there were many goblins, Sierra did not count on them to fight. Aside from the fact that she didn't have any Intimacy with them, she also felt uneasy around them.
All in all she only depended on the Vigilantez members alone. With these numbers, Sierra felt confident that they could fight off a werewolf pack or two. If escape wasn't a viable option.
As Sierra walked around the encampment, two large werewolves, almost three meters tall, appeared before her. "Phen, Rear, how's everything?" she asked.
Phen, the gray werewolf only grunted and bowed. Whereas Rear, the black werewolf, was the only who spoke to their alpha. "The area's secure...but I have some troubling news," she reported flatly.
Sierra raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"Even though their HP is almost on par with our weakest clansman, it seems that the new werewolves who joined our pack are significantly weaker when compared to our original pack members," replied Rear respectfully.
"Maybe that's because they haven't undergone our training methods?" answered Sierra dismissively.
"Perhaps, but my instinct tells me something else is wrong with them," replied Rear.
Sierra nodded and acknowledged her black werewolf. "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind, but for now just continue to observe them. As long as they don't pose any danger, then I'm okay even if they are weaker."
Phen and Rear bowed down before their alpha and left towards the outer area of their encampment.
She then proceeded to where Adder and his team were. They were busy finishing their meal preparations.
"Good morning, Adder," she said with a warm smile.
"Morning, Sierra," replied Adder and stopped what he was doing as he walked over to her and pulled her away from the rest of his team.
"Sierra, one of the children asked me if we're gonna take them home," stated Adder flatly. "Of course, I told her the truth, that they're going to live with us now," he paused and looked uncomfortable.
"And? What seems to be the problem?" asked Sierra as she sensed Adder's unease.
"Well, I promised them that they'd have a house especially for themselves. I thought that it might be awkward for them to join with anybody else," explained Adder.
It took a few seconds for Sierra to realize what Adder was actually saying. "I see. You promised them a house, but you don't know which house to put them in once we're in Verbrannt?"
A wordless Adder silently nodded.
"Don't worry about it. I'll have Thyrsus prepare a beautiful, relaxing house for them." said Sierra as she patted Adder's shoulder. "Also, I think Smoke has already contacted someone to take care of them, and should be arriving in Verbrannt the same time as us."
"Really? Who's that?" asked Adder curiously.
"Don't know. He just said that it's a person who has a lot of experience in dealing with troubled children," retorted Sierra.
After their conversation, everyone was gathered and ate the meal Adder and his men prepared. For the goblins, who liked raw food, they gave them slightly grilled ancient bison meat. As for the children, they skewered onions, potatoes, bell peppers and tomatoes into a kebab. Adder thought that the children shouldn't have any meat, as one of them explained that they had a gag reflex towards it.
While they were eating, Sierra resumed her observation on the two Lioumereans the children looked up to. She watched them feed the young ones and made sure that the rest who could feed themselves were eating properly.
Inasmuch as she didn't have any luck with the pantheress before, Sierra tried talking with the cheetah Lioumerean instead. She walked over to him while he was filling up his plate to feed the children.
"Excuse me. My name is Sierra, and I'd just like to tell you that you're doing a really good job," she said sincerely.
The boy faced her and bowed respectfully. "Thank you for rescuing us from that wretched place."
"Don't mention it. No one should undergo..." Sierra stopped talking as the boy immediately left her hanging and went back to feeding the youngsters.
The red werebear crossed her arms and shook her head in disapproval.
'Looks like I have to teach these kids some manners,' she thought to herself.
Before she could walk over to the young cheetah Lioumerean, a pantheress stepped in front of her.
"Please forgive our rude behavior," said Vrai humbly and lowered her head until it almost touched the ground.
"No, you don't have to do that," said Sierra hurriedly and helped her up. "I just wanted to get to know you guys better."
"I understand, but I don't think anyon
e of us is ready for that just yet," retorted Vrai. "I'd also like to apologize in Ardu's behalf as well."
"Ardu? Oh, the boy earlier. It's fine." said Sierra pleasantly and waved her claws in dismissal. "Thank you for telling me. I'll stay out of your hair from now on."
Vrai bowed again and went back to the children.
Sierra shrugged her shoulders and decided to respect Vrai's request. She let the children be and ordered for everyone to break camp and resume their journey back to Verbrannt.
* * * * * *
Sitting beside Gandiva, Sierra watched the stretch of trees before them. They continued on the covered route and avoid detection from traveling through the plains. In exchange, they were moving at a much slower pace.
Only the rescued children were in Lioumereans' carriages. Due to the Gobble Goblins high numbers, they were forced to travel on foot. Fortunately, their kind was more than suitable enough to endure such a long and arduous march.
They encountered monsters such as stone deers and once met a family of hell boars once. But the monster that plagued them the most in these forests were the epicyon, a one and a half meter long wild dog. They moved slower than the aardwolves, but they made up for it in brute strength. These wild dogs would form groups of three and knock down medium-sized trees by simply pouncing on them.
Whenever such monsters appeared, the Gobble Goblins displayed their nimbleness as they quickly huddled within near the Lioumereans carriage. They patiently waited for the Werewolves and Tikbalangs to finish off the monsters before continuing to move forward.
They traveled for the rest of the day without much incident. It was getting dark and Sierra decided that it was time for them to break camp. At the rate they were going, they still had four days left before they could reach Verbrannt.
As Sierra was about to give the order to make camp, she felt multiple cold eyes staring at her back. She turned around, but could sense nothing with her Animal Instinct.
Abruptly, she heard werewolves howling.
AWWWOOO AWWWW AWWWW AWWWWOOOOOO
It wouldn't have bothered her normally, but Sierra gave her werewolves strict orders not to make a sound. As her eyes searched from beyond the trees, she saw them. Werewolves that didn't belong to her pack surrounded them.
Instantly, the Gobble Goblins ran next to Sierra and the Lioumereans' carriage. The elderly goblin who could speak Lacerta ran next to Sierra and asked. "You can fight them off, right?" he asked, shaking with fear.
Sierra didn't answer and only kept her eyes on the enemies encircling them.
As the enemy werewolves moved in closer, her werewolf pack slowly backed away towards her and made their circular formation smaller and smaller.
Two black werebears appeared in front of them and stepped in front of the werewolves. Sierra then observed some movement from their rear and glanced towards them. Two more brown werebears appeared in the back of their formation.
Aside from the four werebears, Sierra estimated the enemy werewolves to number almost four hundred. Almost twice the maximum limit she set for their current battle strength.
Given the dire situation, Sierra tapped the elderly goblin and said. "I'm sorry to do this, but I need you to fight with us."
Still trembling, the elderly goblin shook his head strongly. "No! There's no way we'll fight. You can't make us," he replied with finality.
As Sierra was about to argue the obvious, she heard the black werebears' loud voice.
"Red Scamp, we've come to take back what you've stolen!" said the male black werebear in a grim voice.
Sierra surmised that he was talking about her, considering she was the only thing red in the forest.
"Walk away, and your lives will be spared," replied Sierra in a calm but loud voice. "Threaten us one more time, and I swear to hunt all of you down!" she bluffed boldly.
"Bold words for someone about to die," snapped a female voice. It came from the brown werebear behind Sierra.
"No, we shouldn't kill her," added the male brown werebear. "We need her alive, and don't kill any of the goblins or the children as well!"
Sierra didn't understand what the werebears were saying, but one thing was clear to her, she needed to think of something fast if she wants to survive.
She caught Adder glance at her. His eyes darted to the right side, an area without the werebears. She nodded, as she understood that he wanted to clear a path to the side and escape into the plains right next to the forest.
Even though Bilis and Tulin were still recovering, their top speed is still beyond a Werewolf's. Adder's plan assured the safety of the children, but it would mean risking the lives of all the Vigilantez in the group.
While Sierra was still contemplating on following Adder's suggestion, the enemy werewolves were steadily drawing in closer to them.
"Phen, Rear!" Sierra called out her trusted werewolves and pointed them to Adder. The black and gray werewolves bowed in acknowledgement of her orders.
She then spoke with the elderly goblin. "We will need to make a run for it. Be sure to keep up."
The elderly goblin nodded in response and began spreading the word to his kin.
As their space was rapidly decreasing, Sierra gave Adder the go ahead and watched him and his team make a dauntless charge towards the side. Werewolves and Tikbalangs alike charged after Adder and protected them from their flanks.
"Gandiva, Laernea, follow Adder's lead," ordered Sierra softly so that only the Lioumerean Pathfinders could hear.
At once, their stag moose steamed after Adder. The children held on tightly as the carriage greatly wobbled through the forest.
As they were escaping, Sierra noticed that the goblins were running towards the opposite direction. She jumped off Gandiva's carriage and grabbed the elderly goblin with her claws before he could run away from her.
"What are you doing?" she asked angrily.
"Let me go! These monsters are after you. It's best we survive on our own," he said hurriedly and bit her hand, forcing her to release him.
Sierra watched the goblins flee to the left side of the forest.
She then noticed that both brown werebears and their werewolves ran after the Gobble Goblins to capture them. Sierra shook her head and barreled back to Gandiva's carriage. The goblins may have deserted her, but at least they split the enemies in half.
While she stormed towards the carriage, dozens of enemy werewolves broke through the Vigilantez defensive line and targeted the children.
For the moment, Sierra forgot not to harm the enemy werewolves and clawed right through them. She quickly knocked them back to the sides. Regardless if they could be potential allies, they still posed a clear and present danger to the children.
Unexpectedly, she reached Gandiva’s carriage sooner than she estimated. She hurriedly climbed it and checked on the children. looked in front and found that Adder's advance was blocked by two black werebears.
Laernea and Gandiva stopped their carriages right next to each other. The two Pathfinders stood up and fired their poison arrows at all enemy werewolves. They changed focus to the front as soon as Sierra arrived and left the back of the carriages for her to defend.
From on top of Gandiva's carriage she observed Adder take on the male black werebear by himself. Despite being smaller, Adder clearly overpowered the black werebear with his BlitzSturm and Condortlian Shield.
Sierra wanted to run to the front and help him, but she couldn't leave the children unprotected. "Adder, watch out!" she cried out from afar as she saw the female werebear launch a back attack at her friend.
Fortunately, Phen and Rear arrived in time and blocked the female werebear's back attack. Due to Sierra watching Adder's battle closely, she failed to notice that one of the children had been taken by a brown werewolf.
"Sierra, help!" cried out Vrai. The pantheress leapt from the carriage onto the back of the werewolf. She choked it with her arms as she desperately cling on to the beast. Her desperate attack made the werewolf mo
mentarily stopped on its tracks.
Sierra immediately scampered after them, but not before Ardu arrived and struggled with the werewolf to release the little girl in its claws.
The girl scurried back towards the carriages and climbed back safely.
With the girl released, the werewolf had more mobility. It grabbed Vrai by its claws and freed itself from her.
The pantheress was forcibly thrown off, but Ardu caught her safely before hitting the hard forest ground. The enraged werewolf forgot its orders not to harm the children. It was about to attack them when a red werebear stepped in front of them and blocked its claws with her arms.