Chapter 311 (1/2)

By the dawn of the 5th day, Simon’s outlook was much more bitter. True, this would only last for 3 more days, but the days it had taken to get here had been a slowly increasing hell. The animals that the Wild Rider was bringing in became increasingly monstrous as time went on, while the area of land they had to manage them had grown increasingly cramped as more and more creatures filled it.

Which was the point that several people took on their roles as peacekeepers in the enclosure. Originally Simon had been extremely dubious that this was necessary, but as there were more monsters, with surly tempers, displays of strength became increasingly common.

Having a Classer put them to rest was reassuring, in a way.

“Hey um….” Lally paused, looking around. Simon, Heather, and a few others meekly sat around a fire, eating as fast as possible, trying to get a meal in between work. David lay over to the side, seeming to doze in the grass next to one of his vegetable farms. Simon would give David this; those were the largest tomatoes he had ever seen. Well, they at least seemed like tomatoes, although they were colored differently…

“Simon and Trey, can you come help me carry some firewood back? If we can get it done within the next hour, we can start repositioning animals for the next big wave of arrivals before they get here. Imagine.” Lally’s voice was filled with faux optimism. They all knew that this group would be even larger, and all their preparations would be for naught.

Simon nodded wearily and stood, looking around. For whatever reason, the area around where the humans ate was filled to the brim with monsters, coldly regarding Simon as he stood. The three of them made their winding way through the monsters. It was inconvenient, but better to leave them laying where they were, than move them and have to deal with them angry.

A shout caught the trio’s attention as Simon was stepping over a 30 meter python.

“Down!”

Grimacing, Simon turned and followed a frowning Lally as she walked towards the source of the shout. Kirk was standing, glowering up at a crimson eagle, the size of a bear, spreading its wings and knocking away nearby monsters. Its wingspan was probably almost 8 meters, and several nearby monsters were giving it disgruntled looks.

As it attempted to spread its wings further, Kirk, who was in front of it, prodded it with his spear, keeping it from spreading its wings too wide. The eagle screeched, furious, glaring at Kirk, and then looked balefully around at the monsters nearby, who blocked it from spreading its wings.

“Kirk, just-” Lally began, but Kirk snorted.

“If we don’t fucking teach it a lesson, it will be unruly for the next three days. Look how fucking big it is! Better to strike now, while it’s on the ground-”

“Do we really need-” Simon tried to interject, but a long hiss silenced him. Simon froze. To his horror, that huge python that he had stepped over had followed them, its huge body slithering between his legs. In fact, Simon had to widen his stance, because the head was so large that it brushed up against his ankles.

Once it was through, it straightened, and hissed at the eagle, its pupils narrowed to slits. Screeching, the eagle hopped forward towards the python.

“You fucking-!” Kirk bellowed, stepping forward, bringing the butt of his spear against the chest of the eagle. The aim was probably not to actually damage the eagle, but rather to shock it and put some fear into its attitude. But when Kirk struck, he simply rebounded off as it hopped forward again, overwhelming him.

Simon abruptly felt very afraid that the crimson eagle was going to attack a snake that was currently slithering between his legs. But he couldn’t find the impetus to move. He was frozen.

Luckily, that didn’t seem to be in the cards. Instead of fighting, they began conversing briefly in squawks and hisses. Then, in an extremely confusing and comical manner, the eagle hopped on top of the python, gripping the middle of its body with its talons. Then, as the python slithered deeper, the crimson eagle just sat on top of it, glaring at any monster that blocked it.

Kirk got back up, his face beet red. “We should fucking gang up on it while it’s asleep. If we don’t-”

Lally didn’t even answer, just sighed and walked away, Simon and the other wood fetcher helping.

After they had finished with the task of hauling wood, and after they spent several hours accommodating the new batch of animals that the Wild Rider had brought, the group of 30 Pledgees were eating when Heather suddenly looked up from her bowl, and glared at David. “What are you doing?”

David didn’t bother to answer, continuing to patiently harvest his plants, which had swollen to a huge size, filling a basket. Heather didn’t seem to mind the lack of response, but she did seem to have a problem with what he was doing. “Have you been sneaking away to feed these monsters? Do you think that will help you get a better companion?”