Chapter 4: Hunt II
Gaelin and Selussa arrived at the northern region shortly before nightfall.
Along the way they had encountered several vicious beasts lingering around the periphery of the charm sigil's placed by the wood elves. These charms were used to deter large animals from approaching their communities.
The vicious beasts noticed their presence but chose not to attack because the elves were too agile to be easily captured.
Therefore, they were relatively unscathed but they still needed to find a safe place to camp for the night.
Selussa placed her hand on a tree and injected her magic power. By doing so, she could quickly scan the immediate area for a safe camp site through the connections between the plants of the forest.
"I've found a very large tree in that direction." Selussa suddenly said while pointing.
"Alright, let's go."
Gaelin was surprised when he finally found the tree. He looked at the trees wide base and estimated that it should be a few thousand years old. Looking upward he found that the nearest branch was hundreds of feet in the air and the top of the tree touched the clouds.
Even in the Ancestral Forest, this tree stood a notch above the surrounding canopy.
"With this we should escape the notice of most predators," Gaelin said in satisfaction.
"I'll race you to the top!" Selussa said cheerily as she began to run up the side of the tree. Vines running along the tree's trunk shifted slightly at every step to support her feet.
"Hold on a second," Gaelin said as he walked over to a thorny bush. He carefully plucked the sharp thorns which were as long and thick as his arm and wrapped them in a cloth.
"What are those for?" Selussa asked with her head tilted to the side.
"You will find out shortly," he replied.
It took the pair only thirty minutes to reach the top of the tree and by this time the sun was beginning to set in the distance.
"Look at that!" Selussa suddenly shouted at Gaelin.
He turned his head and enjoyed a rare sight. He could actually see over the dense tree canopy of the forest for the first time in his twenty-three years of life. Gaelin's euphoria was short lived as he realized what alarmed Selussa.
In the distance, Gaelin could see what must be King's Rock. Except, it didn't look like a traditional rock.
King's Rock had a dull gray coloration to it and if one were to look at it up close it would indeed look like an extremely large rock or mountain. However, from a distance it was obvious that the rock possessed a striking resemblance to an enormous tortoise covered in vegetation.
"I have heard that there existed a species of tortoise that it is so large and slow moving that people often mistook it for a mountain. Even the forest would be fooled by the tortoise as its shell would be overgrown with plants. But I thought they were just legends..." Selussa murmured.
"I don't know if those ancient tortoises truly exist, but I do know that the thing we are looking at right now is definitely not alive. I can see various deep cracks along the body of the rock that no living creature could simply ignore." Gaelin said.
"Perhaps this rock is what inspired the legend? Our people tell stories of many such legendary creatures and most of them are inspired by ignorance." Selussa replied.
"We will have time to investigate the rock tomorrow. Right now, I need you to prepare a makeshift shelter for us, while I make defensive preparations."
"Alrighty," Selussa replied while displaying her pearly white teeth. She was evidently very excited for tomorrow's adventure.
Gaelin was briefly dazed by her appearance in the fading sunlight and had to turn his head to prevent himself from blushing. Selussa had noticed his gaze on her body ever since their journey began and enjoyed teasing him.
'It seems this uncomfortably tight uniform has some perks,' she thought to herself in amusement.
Suddenly, she had a great idea and her eyes glowed in anticipation.
Even with his back to her, Gaelin heard her muffled giggles and knew that she was up to something.
Shaking his head, he walked out onto one of the thick branches of the tree and took out the wrapped cloth. The cloth was now drenched in a viscous fluid which seeped from the thorns.
Seeing the drenched cloth, Gaelin nodded in satisfaction and summoned several thin vines, which he then began to weave into a makeshift rope.
Near the end of the rope he wove the thorns into place so that they stuck out of the rope at varying angles. While doing so, he made sure to avoid exposing the paralytic fluid from the thorns to any open wounds on his hands.
Several minutes later he returned to Selussa with several vine ropes.
Selussa was currently channeling her magic into a thick branch. Very quickly large leaves sprouted on the branch and folded together to create a small room. Inside the room a relatively flat floor was created with a combination of vines and leaves overlaying each other.
After creating the room she turned to him and smiled brightly, "All done!"
"Only one room?" Gaelin asked with a quirked brow.
"Of course! It is important that we conserve our strength silly~"
Right at this moment they both sensed several large creatures flying towards their section of the tree.
Gaelin smiled, "I was wondering when they would show up."
He walked off towards the noisy birds who were preparing to land on the tree.
"Wait, those are greater blood crows! We need to be very careful when fighting them because their body is covered in a poisonous oil..." Selussa warned.
"Don't worry, I can handle them. I knew that large birds would flock to nest in this tree before sunset because of how tall it was so I prepared an appropriate countermeasure."
At this time, three crows with wingspans over thirty feet wide were loudly cawing at the two elves. They were trying to intimidate the two elves and force them to leave the tree. One of the crows moved too close to the branch that Gaelin was standing on and a long vine whip struck its massive wing like a viper. Within a few moments the crows wing became as stiff as a board and he plummeted from the sky.
The falling crow gave a mournful screech as it fell faster and faster until it collided with a branch. The hollow bones within its body couldn't withstand the impact and shattered causing severe internal bleeding. Then the crows body dangled from the branch lifelessly.
Both remaining crows and Gaelin were too shocked to react in time.
'The paralysis from the thorns took effect far quicker than I expected...' Gaelin thought to himself as he broke out into a cold sweat.
He originally intended to force the birds to retreat when they realized their bodies were slowly entering a state of paralysis, but now it seems he was really lucky he didn't accidentally paralyze himself earlier when he was handling the thorns.
Finally, the crows turned their blood red eyes toward Gaelin and he was surprised to find they seemed to be enraged by his actions. He was surprised because this anger seemed to go beyond animal instinct and come from the loss of a comrade. Most animals would flee when the risk of injury outweighed the possible gains, but it was different with sentient creatures because they could act irrationally when emotionally disturbed.
'Damn, I underestimated their intelligence... if this is the case I might have to adjust my plan.'
He had planned to use the whip to scare away any flying predators that ventured too close but this plan relied on his understanding of animal behavior and the paralytic poison secreted from the thorns. Most predators would leave when they realized their prey was not worth the possibility of being injured.
However, Gaelin was worried because he didn't know how many of these crows were already nesting in other parts of the tree. He and Selussa only occupied a very small portion of the tree after all. If the two remaining crows call for help or their deaths draw unwanted attention the situation could take a turn for the worse...
He looked at Selussa and nodded. Through their intent and tacit understanding they had instantly formed a plan.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone