Triple Strength

314. Tension: Wiremu

It only took me three nights, and I didn’t even need to use any of my spare attributes. I should have had this long ago so I could level it. Both Tāoke and I now have Adaptive Camouflage. There was a trick. It not only needed a high level in all the Agilities but also Spiritual Strength to maintain it and Mental Perception to understand who was, or could be, hunting you and adapt the camouflage to suit. I also found it needed Plant, Animal, Sapient, and Elemental Lore. Not to a high level, but you needed to understand your environment and what might be hunting you. The higher the Sapient Lore and the knowledge of the environment, the better it adapts. My Sapient Lore is only mid-apprentice, so it is not the best. However, my knowledge of the Environment is high. When I thought about hiding in this woodland/grassland area, my plant and animal knowledge converged and gave me a sense of an upper Jouneyman-level Savanna environment knowledge. I was the same for Forrest environments and much lower for Alpine, Jungle and Desert environments. This shows how well the skill adapted and affected the way the skill level was applied. It was a function of the skill itself. I need more Lore, particularly around different environments. I was embarrassed when I tried thinking about it working in an urban environment. Absolute Novice. This is now my highest-tier Skill. This is now my favourite Skill.

This sped up our progress and meant I was more confident in moving during the day. Cloudy days were the best. One of my biggest worries was high-flying bonds. I watch the sky, but the sky is a big place.

After three days, the troopers were also spread out more with the larger area they had to cover. And this was only benefiting me. I needed not to let down my guard, though. There were still trackers out there, so I was stopping us at the slightest discomfort.

One of those times was dawn two days later. Težka sunk into the ground with Modrica next to him. Tāoke was well enough to have shrunk back to his normal size, and his Master camouflage was still better when they were stopped than the Novice Adaptive Camouflage. I was much better at Adaptive Camouflage than Tāoke. I think it is my greater understanding of the environment than his instinctive understanding. Finally, something I am better at!

I was off to the side, a little way from Težka and up a slope, giving me a better view. I was Camouflaged behind a small tree, and I slowly prepared my bow. We waited.

Half an hour went by. I knew Modrica would be getting restless. Težka is probably falling asleep. I still wasn’t happy. I couldn’t see anything. Everything looked normal.

Still, I waited.

An hour went by. The sun had risen, but there were rain clouds around. We would be getting showers today.

Still, I waited. I was a patient hunter, and safe was better than dying.

Another fifteen minutes passed. Was I wrong? I would keep waiting.

Ten minutes later, I sensed someone in stealth creeping closer. He was leaking Thermal Energy, but other than that, he was passable.

When he came over the crest of the hill, I raised my bow to take a shot. It is basic that if you are sneaking, you don’t crest anything. He was young. Better than Illiaya, whom I trained but was still young.

I lined up a shot, but I was not sure I was going to kill him. It would depend on what he did. I could now sense he was not human. He looked human, but small things were off about him. He was probably some Animalkin I had not seen before.

I readied the bow. If he kept on that path, he would stumble over Težka. Sorry kid.

There was a clicking sound like crickets, but my Hearing Aid heard the difference. The kid stopped, looking around.

“This is the wrong lead,” a voice said.

The kid stood up, “Shit, Uncle, your Skill is unreliable.”

An older man, or Animalkin, rose from the grass on the rise opposite me. They looked related.

“I warned you it was. Many things can trigger it.”

The kid sighed, “We will never be rich. This bounty would set us up for life.”

“First rule, Kid.”

The kid sighed again and recited, “You must be alive to spend the bounty.”

The old man nodded. “Your stealth needs work. I sensed you way before you came over the hill.” then his voice developed some anger, “And don’t ever go over a hill when you can go around it.”

The kid had a pained look on his face. He knew that. “Where to next?”

“The report of those wild dogs is triggering the Skill. We will head there. You go first. I will be testing your Stealth.”

The kid made a face and set off.

“Around the hill, boy!”

The old man just stood there looking toward where the kid disappeared.

Once the kid was at the edge of my range, the old man said, “Thank you for sparing the kid.” He hadn’t looked around or tried to run.

He straightened up. “I consider this a life debt and would exchange my life for his.” He then made a vow in a language I didn’t know. He continued in Common, “I will keep this secret for life. You won’t know our people as we are not numerous,” My hearing Aid barely caught the “anymore,” he said under his breath, “but we are an honourable people. Service to the empire is the price we pay. You are not the first one that my unreliable skill has missed. You are good at this and by far the most dangerous I have come across.”

He was convinced we were here. He was talking to an empty grassy area with a few trees dotted around. We had made no move or sound.

He paused. “I am going to walk away now. If you choose to take my life, I will consider our debt settled. If you choose not to, nobody will know, and I will run around uselessly for a couple more weeks.”

His Skill is not unreliable. If the kid had not arrived, or we had moved on while he was here, then he would have reported our position. I think he had some sort of danger sense as well as his Seeker Skill, as it was only when I moved to kill the kid that he acted. He would not have known that otherwise. The timing was too exact for it to be a coincidence. That means he will know if I decide to kill him. He had started walking after the kid. With a danger sense he would be very hard to kill.

Should I let him live? He seemed honourable, but the reward was large. I had no way to ensure his silence except to kill him.

I prepared an arrow. I drew the bowstring tight and Telescoped into his back. He kept a steady pace. I marked him with a Hunter's Mark. He would not be hidden from me now till he got out of range over ten km away. He felt the Mark. His back stiffened. He didn’t break it. Would he?

His Danger Sense would be screaming at him at this point. All I need to do is let go of my fingers holding the arrow.

I held the tension a little longer.

His path veered around a tree, and I fired the arrow.

He stiffened, but the arrow embedded into the tree beside him. He looked at it, got out his knife, and dug the arrow out of the tree. He unwrapped the thin strip of leather from the arrow and read what I carved into it. Then he put both into his pack.

He turned to face where the arrow had come from. I had already moved, and he probably knew that. He faced that direction anyway and nodded his assent. Then he turned and continued his walk away after his nephew.

We kept hidden until he got to the edge of the Hunters Mark range, and then I signalled, “Time to move.”

Težka and Modrica rose from the ground and levelled it back after themselves. I pointed the direction to head. My Mapping Skill was my second favourite Skill.

Modrica tilted her head at me in query.

“I wrote, ‘Contact the Black Butcher,’ and signed it W. H.” She nodded in agreement.

The tracker, whatever his name was, would have no problem finding Tabitha with that Skill. If he showed her the leather, they would know I sent him. I think they would work well together if they could come to an agreement.

I moved to erase our tracks and follow the big, hulking, noisy Direbear. I can hear his empty stomach rumbling from here. Modrica fed him some jerky, but we will have to stop soon.