Steel and Mana

Chapter 127 – Monster of the Beastlands (1)

I was in the castle again, but not alone as Merlin accompanied me this time, walking up the frozen stairs to the battlements. Both of us were wearing thick clothes, covering every inch of our bodies, while I felt my nose wanting to freeze off from my face.

"I didn't see Sasha this angry before." he murmured, his breath leaving a thick cloud of smoke in the air, which turned into tiny snowflakes the moment they left his mouth.

"I am not going to let her come. If anything happens to me, our kids still need a mother, and Avalon needs someone who understands my vision."

"What about me?" He asked jokingly, making me smile.

"We are men, my friend. If danger comes, we must face it and stop it from endangering our families or die trying."

"What if we can't stop it?" He continued asking, his voice serious, wanting to hear my honest thoughts about it.

"Then... Then, we won't have to see our loved ones dying. Take solace in that."

"..."

I did not want to be pessimistic, but since the beasts first appeared, there had been a wave of different ones coming at us every third or fourth day. We were already deep into the winter, and if the pattern was holding, then today would be another day when some kind of beast tried to come through the Pass. I know we were running low on their meat, but we would have no way to keep them all after this. Even if we smoke all of our gains, they are bound to go bad before we consume them. Still, that was not a problem I was worrying about right now.

What troubled me were the types of beasts coming our way. Looking at the destroyed bodies that the soldiers were bringing back and checking their skeletons, they all had rune markings on them. We even found a few small or broken cores within a few. They were not as extensive as the previous behemoth, but it was still alarming. This meant these creatures on the other side of the world were natural magic users. What did that mean? I don't know, but if anything, it would allow some truly crazy creatures to be roaming around.

"I wonder what they eat..." Merlin mumbled as we arrived at the top, getting hit by the biting, cold winds at once. I wanted to answer, but I had only theories, none with proof behind them. Looking at their skulls and teeth, I thought they were predators. But then again, I found a few that would point towards being omnivores.

"Besides us? That's a good question. I am more interested in how a CC ends up inside them. Do they grow it? Does it imprint the runes on their bones, or are the runes already there, forming the CC within them? That is a much more interesting problem."

"What if they eat it?" He suggested, tilting his head, thinking, "They could swallow it down! Crunching it up probably is not an option because their teeth are not made from it."

"I thought about it, but the placement within their bodies does not match their digestive system. Of course, I can't say for certain that it can't be the case... For now, we won't know, not until we capture one or raise one and observe it for ourselves!"

"You want to capture one?" He asked, his voice shooting really high.

"Hell no. They are too dangerous!" I answered, and for sure, I wouldn't want a magical beast that could obliterate us if it got loose. I am not a mad scientist! "Come, let us put up the formations you developed. If these beasts have CC within them, your new sensors should warn us even if we can't see them."

With the current weather and the frequent snowstorms, Merlin and I began implementing his CC-finding magic differently. We were also going to try to build an array that would automatically emit its waves, and when a CC resonates with it, it starts a chain reaction, sending out the signal that gets picked up by the others further away. We tested it, and it seemed to work flawlessly; the question was whether CC, hidden within a living being, would react the same or not. Could we influence it? Or does the creature isolate us from it? There were so many anomalies and variables that only a live test would prove it.

The first 'dishes' with the formation and CC within were installed onto the castle's walls. If everything works as expected, if it picks up a signal, it will emit a high-pitched, whining noise that will alert the soldiers and trigger the alarms. This would be best for when it's dark, and we get another storm, severely limiting the visibility inside the Pass. The remaining twenty others were then brought out of the castle and installed onto the mountain walls at every hundred meters, reaching out two kilometers into the Pass.

I can't lie. A weird feeling crept up on my back when I was watching its installation and being that far away from the castle. Looking towards the road, twisting and turning amongst the passageway, it was like a labyrinthian avenue, leading to the unknown or directly into the underworld. I was curious about what was on the other side, what kind of land was separated from us by these massive mountains, and what type of secrets and treasures it may hold. But then again, I was quickly reminded of what kind of monsters were living there, and my thoughts of exploring it promptly evaporated.

Returning to the castle relieved not just me but also every soldier who was out with us installing the dishes. Their first test happened right that evening, but it was not what Merlin and I hoped for because they remained silent. The castle was assaulted by thin, moose-like creatures; at least a dozen of them came, and they were the size of our tractors. Even though they were big, their legs were thin compared to their bodies, and their antlers resembled wild mushroom infestations more than anything else.

None of them triggered the warning system, and we discovered them only when they got close to the mines, blowing them up. The explosions seemed to scare them, literally and figuratively scattering them all over the Pass. We watched as our traps did their job, killing them off, and that night, we fired neither of our cannons. When morning came, and we examined the carcasses, we found no indication that any of them had CC hidden in their bodies, but that did not mean there was none. Maybe it got... destroyed? Or lost because it was small. Who knows, but I wasn't ready to write down our warning system just yet.

"It should have been making a reaction if those creatures had CC inside their bodies." Merlin argued while we were in the castle's library, working on our ideas in the middle of the night.

"Checking their bones, I found no rune markings on them, so I agree that these ones were not evolved enough."

"Leon, do you think their evolution is tied to CC? Or magic?"

"Yeah. It could be the case... I could easily see that the more robust or intelligent variants are the ones-"

But I couldn't finish my sentence as we heard a loud explosion. Ten minutes later, we were up on the walls, watching as another horde of moose creatures were trying to get to us, being blown up by the mines. This time, there were not only a dozen but at least thirty of them rushing towards us. Watching them all die, I couldn't help but feel uneasiness and fear creep into my mind as I observed it from the top of the wall.

"Maybe their intelligence is related to their bones." Merlin whispered, but I was not as relaxed as he was.

"This could be bad..."

"Sovereign?"

"It wouldn't be the first time one of these poor bastards was being herded into the Pass by a stronger, smarter beast. If my instincts are right, they are trying to clean out the minefield before they make their move!"

"I can create more traps!" he said, dropping the smile and taking it seriously. He was no longer in a joking mood. "I can do it fairly quickly, and we can replace the lost ones and even plant more."

"Mhm, we will do that, and I will join in on it. I don't like this a bit, and I want to be ready for whatever is trying to get to us!"

The following week further reinforced my thoughts on the matter. When we began quickly replenishing the lost mines and even expanding on their reach, the attacks against the wall began happening more frequently. Because the night-time raids proved no different than going at us during the day, it became utterly random when they did it.

"We can't keep up with this forever..." I whispered, meeting with my Father and Merlin in the castle's main hall. Outside, a heavy snowstorm had been raging since morning, turning the day into perpetual dusk, howling like a rabid beast. "The attacks are now almost happening day and night, and we can't go out and replenish the mines."

"The soldiers are also feeling the pressure; if this continues for the upcoming months, they will start making mistakes. Whoever or whatever is directing these dumb beasts is dangerous." Father was just as troubled as the rest of us were, realizing we were facing something that was not only a group of beasts looking for dinner.

"We need to devise a new rotation system that lets the soldiers sleep at least four to five hours a day. We can no longer operate on a day and night cycle." I explained, crossing my arms while speaking, "Oleg is coming over with my soldiers; he should arrive in under an hour, and we can break them up into groups, integrating them into the veterans."

"I am going to send your mother to Avalon!" Father exclaimed, surprising me and making me raise an eyebrow, awaiting his explanation. "The castle will be transformed into a bastion from now on. Start placing mines and traps inside and around the back too. Even if they break through, I want them to pay for it dearly."

"Does she know?" I asked simply, looking into his eyes and watching him nod.

"I already had the talk with her and persuaded your Mom, don't worry about it. You should go, too."

"No." I replied at once, making him smile a little.

"That's what I thought you would say... But I made a deal with your Mother!"

"Dad!" I shouted, standing up, "I am already the lord of the Frontier. If I want to stay, you cannot even chase me out of here!"

"Just listen to me first!" he countered, raising his voice, and I halted my speech, glancing at Merlin, who pulled himself up to a little ball and looked at us nervously. "You can stay, but if it looks like we can't weather this storm, you will take the majority of the soldiers and retreat to Avalon. Try and survive; with you and the rest there, I am sure you would be able to fight back. This is the deal, son! And I don't care what kind of title the Empress has given you; you have rebelled, don't you remember? Imperial designations mean nothing before me! Even if you were a loyal little pawn, I would still order you around because your Mother and I made you!"

"You drive a harder bargain than Mom..." I grumbled, shaking my head and making my father laugh.

"I take it you agreed?"

"Yeah, because it won't happen. Listen to us; we are speaking like depressed weaklings..."

"Hah! That's my boy!"

Just as he thought of continuing, the warning bells began, ringing from the highest tower of the castle. Looking out the window, we could not see the Pass because of the storm, which could only mean one thing: our warning system worked, and something was heading our way. It was then that I suddenly felt it—the tremor running through the castle's walls.