Chapter Four-Hundred Seventy-Six (Patreon)

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Pul

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He’s definitely going to need to get a canister to carry seasonings in, especially salt.  Thankfully, it’s easy to get in Fourdock, and the other seasonings shouldn’t be too difficult to get.  But he can’t let himself be distracted with thoughts of trying to recreate Ragnar’s stew.  No, he’s technically on watch, though Rocky is the one sitting at the entrance to the small cave.

Pul’s job is to try to keep an eye outside.  With his new shadow technique, it’s… well, not easy, but that’s what practice like this is for.  He likes to think of it as his Shadow Mind technique, but that feels way too strong for what he’s actually able to do right now.  Right now, it’s closer to Shadow Spies, but even that is overstating it.

Onyx can do similar without even trying, but she’s literally a shade.  Of course she’s going to be a master with shadows.  She’s also not in the cave, as she and Doppler have gone to scout out the crack while everyone else settles into camp.  For Pul, all he can do is try to send a little piece of his own shadow out, and use that to try to find danger.  The hardest part is understanding what his shadow is trying to tell him.

He can kinda hear, though it’s really muffled.  Touch works well, since shadows are always clinging to whatever they can.  Temperature doesn’t really translate, which Pul is grateful for.  Outside is mostly snow and cold.  He’d much rather feel the small fire’s warmth than the freezing temperature his shadow is meandering around in.

Sight is the hardest to get used to.  Even the smallest light is painful to look at directly, but the shadows hide nothing from him.  He’s still trying to get used to the concentration he needs to maintain to keep his shadow together and sense through it, and the strange vision is the biggest hurdle to that.  But he’s adapting.  He’s also learning how to get his shadow further and further away, or at least the small piece he sent out.  Each silent lap he does of patrol is slightly further out than the last, and completed slightly quicker, too.

It’s a learning process to move his shadow.  It doesn’t actually have legs, or muscles for that matter!  But his affinity and his mana know how to move, he just needs to not overthink it.  And now he’s gotten comfortable with moving, he’s working on moving quicker, and sticking to shadows to avoid detection.  Not many go watching shadows, but movement will still draw the eye.

So far, his best method seems to be to draw a thin line of shadow to where he wants it to go, then flow along and pull the rest along after, almost like a snake.  It’s not the quickest, but he thinks it’ll be the hardest for others to notice, and speed will come with practice.

Which he is getting as he continues to keep watch.  The focus gets easier to maintain, though certainly not easy, which lets him start to pay more attention to his surroundings than on only keeping the technique going.  And he soon notices what must be one of the wolves in the distance.  It’s back among the trees, not even within sight of the cave, but Pul knows it’s keeping an eye on them.  Or maybe a nose?

Wolves are supposed to have a good sense of smell, and one of the first rules of being stealthy is watching from a place others can’t see.  Why wouldn't a wolf smell from where others can’t smell, instead?  Pul smiles to himself as he carefully gets closer.  Shadows don’t have a smell, right?

As he gets closer, he sees it’s not just one wolf, but two.  One is huge, probably taller at the shoulder than Pul is!  The other is smaller, probably coming up to only Pul’s hips.  Exact size is difficult to tell like this, but he doesn’t think he’s too far off in his estimates.

“Spotted two wolves.  Peaceful.  Alert,” he mutters for Rocky to hear, and gets a quiet grunt in return.  Nothing to worry about, but probably a good idea to keep an eye on.  The larger wolf looks relaxed yet alert, the sort of feigned laziness he’s seen on some of Rezlar’s guards at the manor.  It’s on guard, yet saving energy for if it actually needs to use it.

The other, smaller one, looks restless.  It shuffles in place, it gets up to pace, and if Pul were closer and could hear better, he wouldn’t be surprised to hear it whimpering in anxiety to actually do something.  Is the large one teaching the small one how to hunt?  Or at least how to track?  That’s what it looks like to Pul, but he’s not sure if the wolves are smart enough for that.

Yvonne and Vernew said they’re smart, but Pul has no idea exactly how smart.  He’s pretty sure dogs and normal wolves will teach packmates things, but he doesn’t know if they actually do, or if that’s just what people say.  Either way, the large one mostly ignores the smaller one as it continues to watch.

After ten minutes, Pul is content that they’re going to stay there, with the smaller one flopping into the snow as it tries to keep its nervous energy in check.  Not the most dignified position to watch from, but probably less distracting for the large one.  Pul starts snaking his shadow back into his patrol route when he feels something else.

It takes him several long seconds before he realizes what it is: a new shadow.  It’s not something with shadow affinity, but rather something moving in a way that creates more shadows.  He’s felt similar from probably a few mice or something similar, things too small to make a difference, but this new shadow maker is… much larger.  Pul wouldn’t be able to walk or even crawl through the space it’s making, but he could technically fit.

And whatever it is, it’s tunneling through the snow and ice.  “I feel something moving through the ice, leaving emptiness and shadow behind it.”  Pul winces at how it sounds like bad poetry, but Rocky nods and stands.  “Should I wake the others?”

The boxer considers for a moment before shaking his head and walking over to the box hive Doppler left behind.  He gives it a few raps with a gloved knuckle, calling out Honey and some of her bees.  His grunt apparently explains the situation, as more bees swarm out, as well as a small flood of poppers.  The swarms take up position at the entrance as Rocky leaves, and Honey flies over to land on Pul’s knee as he continues to sit, concentrating on his technique.

“I’ll keep an eye on things, I guess?”  Honey takes to the air and bobs in a nod before settling, so Pul refocuses on his shadow.  Rocky is going to go punch the thing if it needs punching, and if it needs a lot of punching, Pul should wake everyone.  Otherwise: watch, and maybe learn.

Pul would be more comfortable waking everyone right now, but the scions are probably right to let them sleep.  No need to wake everyone if Rocky can deal with it.  And with Honey’s swarm at the entrance, everyone should still be safe if this is a ploy to draw off the watch.  Pul watches through his shadow, and can see the wolves looking tense.  The small wolf isn’t looking bored anymore, and instead looks like it’d like to be back at their den.

The larger one is on its feet, and Pul isn’t sure if it’s because it can smell Rocky, or if it can sense the tunnel has now turned and is headed for the two wolves.  It might even be both.  Rocky doesn’t smell that bad for a zombie, but he’s still a zombie.  The Wolf can probably smell him on the move.  And as Pul can feel the shadow under the snow, the wolf can probably feel the snow parting around whatever’s coming.

The shadow under the snow suddenly accelerates, and Pul barely has time to inhale before the two wolves scatter.  It looks like some sort of ice wyrm, reminding Pul of Nova, but with the opposite affinity.  The flying snow kicked up makes it hard for Pul to sense what’s happening, but he can identify the shadows involved.  The worm charges at the smaller wolf, before the large one tackles the monster, sending it flying.  Yet instead of being stunned, it quickly dives back under the snow to circle the two wolves.

He tries to get into a better position as he tells Honey what’s happening.  “I think it’s a stagnation monster.  A wyrm, like Nova, but ice instead of lava.  It’s attacking the wolves.”  He ignores the correcting buzz from Honey as he tries to keep track of the battle.  The wyrm isn’t able to catch the wolves off guard, but they just aren't fast or strong enough to counter it when it attacks.  They try to do something, Pul can’t tell exactly what, just that it’s some kind of ice attack, probably.  Maybe an icicle spear or something?  Either way, he can only feel the faint shadow it makes, and how little impact it seems to have on the wyrm.

However, the commotion has not gone unnoticed.  Pul would bet the wolves can smell him approaching, but the wyrm isn’t giving them a chance to flee as Rocky hurries toward the battle.  He can see as Rocky approaches the localized blizzard, and can even feel the little prickles of Rocky drawing on mana in his unique way.

The wyrm ignores him and charges the wolves again, but Rocky isn’t standing idly by.  As the wyrm nears breaching the snow, the particles all suddenly cease blowing around and quickly fall to the ground.  Pul only knows he grabbed the kinetic energy out of them because he’s seen him do a similar trick with sand.  The wolves pause for a moment as the cover vanishes, before realizing they’ve given the wyrm an opening!

It bursts from the snow, hurtling toward the smaller wolf, but never reaches it.  Rocky grins and grabs it out of the air, Pull able to feel the change in its personal gravity.  The zombie plants his feet and delivers an empowered haymaker to the wyrm, shattering it into a fresh inch of powder to cover the area.

The larger wolf stands its ground, growling with its hackles raised, the smaller wolf trying to make itself look small behind it.  Rocky dusts himself off before slowly backing away, making sure the wolves know he has no quarrel with them.  The large wolf continues to growl and bark, but doesn’t try to chase Rocky as he leaves.

In fact, it doesn’t budge until Rocky is almost back to the cave, at which point it takes off running, probably back toward the den, with the small one scrambling to keep up.  Pul lets the technique dissolve as Rocky returns, a small headache building between his eyes from maintaining it for so long.

“Do you think you made a friend?” he asks Rocky, the boxer shrugging in reply.  Honey floats up and starts buzzing in Rocky’s ear, probably demanding to know everything he saw.  The two settle in at the entrance as the swarms return to the box, and Pul tries to figure out what he’s going to tell the others.  There’s a lot of interesting things he saw, but the most important to them is probably the ice wyrm.

If the snarl is making things like that, it’ll be a lot more dangerous for them to try to attack the knot.  And Yvonne’s backup plan of burying it might not work, either.  Burying a wyrm isn’t likely to stop it for long.