Soul Caller 1 - Chapter 12 (Patreon)

Lifting a peach he was holding, he threw it at the broken-horn bull. Merrick’s throw wasn’t nearly as accurate as Sellie’s, but it didn't matter because of how big the broken-horned bull was. The soft piece of fruit slammed into the side of the bull's head, sending juice flying as it broke apart. Startled, the bull swung its head around, staring at Merrick through its beady eyes.. Waving his hands, Merrick tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. Until the broken-horn bull surged to its feet, that is.

“Uh oh.”

Annoyed that he had pelted it with a piece of fruit, the bull mooed and then stomped towards him, causing him to quickly back up. As he did, he bent down and picked up another piece of fruit from the ground, this one half-rotten. Feeling the sticky juice on his fingers, he hurled it at the bull, wanting the massive creature’s full attention. The peach squelched as it landed right in between the broken-horn bull's eyes, annoying the creature even further.

Seeing the bull break into a trot as it chased after Merrick, Sellie and Maro both looked at each other nervously. They weren't sure that this plan was going to work, but they needed to give it a try at least. Sellie's job was to throw the loops, and Maro's job was to anchor them. The spot they had chosen had a number of thick peach trees, and as the bull started to trot forward, Sellie threw out another loop. This one caught the bull's horn, though barely, and Maro ran to grab the other end. Running around one of the trees as fast as he could, he looped it three times and then anchored himself, hoping to provide a little bit of extra support as the bull began to pull.

Shaking its head to try to dislodge the annoying ropes, the bull quickly found that it couldn't move towards Merrick, who was still backing up in front of it. With a deep snort, it half-reared, its head pulling sharply. With that single tug, the rope that Maro held onto simply snapped, allowing the bull the freedom to move towards Merrick. Realizing that their plan wasn't going to work, Merrick's mind spun rapidly, and he quickly put his best skill into practice, running. Seeing Merrick run away, the bull, who had originally been trying to get free of all of the ropes, let out another angry snort and charged.

Despite its size, the broken-horned bull was quite quick, but only in a straight line, so Merrick quickly turned, curving around the tree that Sellie stood under, gesturing for her to climb up into it. The bull came after him, rapidly closing the distance as its huge feet pounded against the earth. Each step shook the nearby peach trees and sent half-ripe peaches raining down upon the ground. Scrambling as he stepped and slid on falling peaches, Merrick covered his head with his hands and continued to run, sprinting around the tree as fast as he could.

The bull came after him, each loop shortening the distance between it and the tree. Merrick maintained these tighter loops, trying to make sure that the bull never strained against the ropes on its head. As he ran by, he looked up and yelled to Sellie, "When it stops, get another rope on it!"

She understood exactly what he meant, and as he sprinted around the tree for the final time, she readied herself. With a tremendous thud, the bull rounded the tree for the last time, its body scraping the bark and slammed to a stop, nearly uprooting the tree in the process. Sellie, who was clinging to a branch above the bull, found herself thrown off as the branch swayed wildly, but despite falling through the air, her hand flicked out and she still managed to loop the rope around the bull's horn before she slammed into the ground. Maro sprinted over from where he had been standing, grabbing the rope and running as fast as he could to secure it on another tree.

Unable to shake its head because of the tree right next to it, the broken-horned bull was confused. It had never been in a position like this, and it couldn't understand why it now couldn't move. Angry, it began to shake its body, ramming itself against the tree with loud thuds. Looking at the damage it was doing to the tree, Merrick tried to assess the situation and figure out what to do next. Another thud rang out as the bull smashed its weight against the tree, causing it to creak.

“Merrick, I don't think this is going to hold!” Sellie yelled.

She was right. The tree was already teetering precipitously, its branches nearly touching the ground as the bull rammed itself against it once more. Merrick, trying desperately to think of a solution, suddenly stopped, his eyes darting back and forth. He wasn't sure what it was that had triggered his senses, but there was something wrong. Looking back at the bull, who was about to break free, he didn't know what to do.

"Maro, try to keep it occupied!” he said, his eyes scanning the valley.

A faint movement in the trees alerted him, and he instantly realized what was happening. There was a jaguar perched in the tree above where Maro stood. Unaware of the creature that loomed over him, Maro had begun to run towards the bull, and Merrick began to run as well, sprinting with all his might toward the giant cat. Even from this distance, he could see the terrifying fangs and its powerful muscles hidden by its glossy coat. His vision trembled and he saw the jaguar crouch, saw a figment of it leaping through the air, its claws raking deep into his friend's back. When his sight snapped back to normal, he knew he only had moments to act.

A peach from his hand flew through the air towards the crouched creature, causing it to hiss in surprise, its eyes flickering toward him. Still oblivious to the danger behind him, Maro continued to charge towards the bull, letting out a deep roar as he lifted his arms. Merrick had no idea what Maro was trying to do, but there was no time to figure it out. His feet moved faster than they ever had before as he darted toward the tree where the jaguar crouched. Its tail lashed and then grew still a moment before it launched itself through the air. The peach he had thrown had caused it to pause for a second but in the next moment it launched itself through the air. To Merrick, it felt as if the world had suddenly frozen, as many things happened all at once.

Behind Merrick, the bull had crashed through the tree, snapping the thick trunk and knocking itself over in the process. Letting out a loud moo, it struggled to its feet as the fallen tree slammed into the ground, sending peaches and leaves bouncing everywhere. The jaguar landed on the grass, its powerful leg muscles coiling once more as it sprang through the air towards Maro's back, but Merrick was there already, slamming into its side, his dagger slashing fiercely at it. The bone dagger dug deep into the beast's ribs, knocking it to the ground as, carried by his momentum, Merrick landed on top of it. He sprang up as fast as he could since getting tangled up with a jaguar was practically suicide.

This was as far as he had planned, and so, without further thought, he turned to run. Yowling in pain from its wounded ribs, the jaguar gave chase, swiping at Merrick’s heels as he fled. Meanwhile, the bull had lifted itself to its feet, and let out an angry bellow, announcing its fury to the world. A moment later, its bellow was answered as Maro slammed into its side, his large arms wrapping around its massive legs. With a tremendous heave, he lifted the entire creature clear off the ground, slamming it back down on its side.

"Get me the rope," he yelled, scrambling to grab the ropes that were still around the bull's horns.

With a toss, Sellie put one of the ropes that had snapped into his hand and he quickly began to bind the thrashing bull's legs. Seeing it start to struggle up again, his fist pounded down into the side of its head, knocking it silly as it smacked its skull against the tree. Merrick would have been astonished by his friend's display of strength if he had not been running for his life. The jaguar, furious to have lost its prey and been wounded, was chasing after him, but Merrick seemed to have an uncanny ability to predict exactly where it was going to strike. As it jumped, he would dodge to the side, starting to move right before the creature launched its attack. Jumping back to avoid one particularly nasty slash, Merrick was scrambling to hide behind a tree when he heard the fierce thud of a weapon piercing flesh. Peering around the tree, he saw that the jaguar had been pinned to the ground by a short spear. A moment later, Barak was there, another spear appearing in his hand as he stabbed it down into the creature's skull, ending its life with a single twist.

[Ding! Four experience points.]

Startled by the announcement, it took Merrick a moment to get his bearings. A few hundred feet away, the bull had been dressed up tightly, its legs bound together by Maro. As Merrick stood shakily to his feet, he saw Barak looking at him, a smile on the normally dour spirit warrior's face.

"Well done," Barak said, nodding his approval as he removed his short spears from the jaguar's body.

Reaching down, he pulled out the knife that was still lodged in the jaguar's ribcage.

"I think this is yours," he said, wiping it off and handing it back.

"Yeah, thanks," Merrick said, taking the knife and bowing reflexively before putting it in his sheath.

"That was a courageous thing you did," Barak said.

Still too keyed up on adrenaline, Merrick didn't know what to say, so he just bowed again.

When they rejoined the other two, they found the bull had been completely subdued, its legs tied up. The bull was still mooing, but every time it did, Maro would slap its head, causing it to fall silent. Sellie, annoyed that he kept hitting it, pushed him away and quickly brought some fruit to feed to the bull. Looking at the completely bewildered creature, Merrick could only shake his head. He knew that Maro was strong, but this strong? Maro had just lifted the nearly one-ton creature and thrown it on its side, a feat of strength that was practically impossible to believe if he had not seen it himself.

"Why didn't we just have you do that in the first place?" Merrick asked, causing Maro to chuckle.

"You know, that's a great question," his friend said, shrugging. "Next time I'll suggest it right away. Just like I did this time."

With the bull secured, the rest of the hunt passed simply. They spent the night there, feeding the bull peaches until it was sick of them while Barak skinned the dead jaguar. Tying a series of ropes around the broken-horn bull’s neck the next morning, they led it back to the village. The bull, though strong and stubborn, clearly knew it was outmatched and didn't care to challenge Maro, who was not shy about using his fist to keep it in line. It much preferred Sellie, and by the time they got close to the village it was following her without issue. When they were halfway back to the village, however, Merrick, who was walking along beside Sellie, suddenly stopped as a shiver ran down his spine.

He couldn't explain it, but the song of the world seemed to grow strained, as if a discordant note was being played. He had never heard anything like this before, and it made him supremely uncomfortable. Turning, he saw something odd in a bush off to the side of the path. There was a pale green piece of skin, almost like snake skin, that had been scraped off on a tree. A faint stench in the air, when he got close, alerted him to its toxic nature, and he could see the rot starting to set in on the tree where the skin had touched it. It was a strange sight, and he couldn't make heads or tails of it. Barak, who had been behind him, came over to see what was going on.

"Have you ever seen anything like this?" Merrick asked, pointing to the discarded skin and the corrosive substance on the tree.

Crouching down, Barak looked closely.

"No," he said, "but it smells terrible."

Gathering the skin with a few large leaves, Barak decided to take it back to the elders to see if they knew what it was. There was always a danger of new types of animals and predators moving into the region, and whatever this was, it seemed dangerous. Heading back towards the village, Merrick couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. It was a strange discomfort that sat at the bottom of his stomach, almost as if there was something dreadful coming. It was with some trepidation that he arrived at the village, instinctively looking around to see what tragedy had come to pass, but everything seemed completely normal.

Their hunt had been exceptionally successful, thanks mostly to Maro's tremendous strength, and the elders were quite impressed. Their first hunt had been different than most, as it had not included killing a dangerous animal, but it had been dangerous nonetheless. After hearing about how Merrick had handled the situation with the jaguar, Elder Gorik smiled appreciatively at Merrick. After delivering the bull, Maro, Sellie, and Merrick were going to head home, but before they could, there was a commotion at the front of the village, and so they stopped to see what was happening.

At the village entrance, they found three strange men surrounded by a crowd of villagers. Short and rather thick of body, they had pale skin and dark hair, though one of them lacked any hair at all upon his head. Dressed in clothes that Merrick had never seen before, and carrying what looked like spears, but without a point, and their belts held many other strange tools. They each led a horse that they had been riding on, like one of the members of the tribes down on the plains, and their horses carried large packs filled with all sorts of bundles.

Merrick and his friends, after watching for a little while, saw the three strangers go with the elders, vanishing into Elder Gorik's house, and so, though still curious, there was nothing to do but go home. That night, to celebrate his successful first hunt, Merrick's sister hosted a celebration, inviting many from the community to join. Celebrations like this were happening all over the village as the various young spirit warriors returned from their first hunt, and it was a lively night. When Merrick finally tumbled into bed, it was well past midnight, and he instantly fell into a deep sleep.