As I regained consciousness, I took in my surroundings. I was no longer sitting down having a nice cup of tea, but rather I was on my ass in the middle of the woods. All I had with me were the clothes on my back. I closed my eyes and listened. I heard water, along with sounds from creatures I've never heard before.
So, Zuter, was it? It would have been nice for Iris to drop me in a town or something. This feels kind of ridiculous. Well, let's figure out where to go from here, I guess. This was certainly a forest, but not one like I've ever seen. The trees looked pretty similar to the ones I'm familiar with, but the plant life was something else. Oh wow, that one looks carnivorous…Let's go take a look at that stream. Maybe I could follow it to some kind of civilization.
I began walking again until I found the water, and began to follow it downstream. There were no structures visible on the horizon, just miles of forest as far as I could see. What I could see, however, was an arrow flying at me with incredible speed. I managed to barely dodge it in time, wincing as it nicked my cheek. An attack? Dude, I just got here.
I darted my eyes around looking for the assailant, and locked onto a set of eyes in some bushes up ahead. The hunter, noticing he was spotted, left the cover of the bush and began to rush me with a dagger. Being well versed in close quarters combat, I redirected several of his slashes, each having incredible power. I was struggling to understand how this man who was a bit smaller than I, was packing so much of a punch. I felt like I could be knocked over with each strike.
The man made some sort of call by whistling as he kept at it with the attack. Although I should be keeping my full attention on my attacker, I witnessed five more people break through the brush from all around me. My assailant hit me with a punch straight to my jaw, stunning me for a second, while another shot a bola at my feet, knocking me over as it twisted up. I grimaced as the man stabbed my arm through with his dagger. Ah, fuck! I heard some chanting in a language I couldn't understand as I felt a great wave of exhaustion, and drifted off.
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When I awoke, night had fallen and my hands were bound. A tourniquet was applied to my arm, and I was tied to a tree, unable to move my hands or legs. I felt groggy but I assessed my situation through it. I was in a camp of some kind, many barbarian folk were gathered around the fire, while another few weren't too far from me, making sure I didn't escape. One of the barbarian men near the fire realized I had regained consciousness and started walking towards me. He crouched in front of me and brought his hand to my face, caressing it. Yuck.
"You're a fine woman. I might just have to take you for myself." He said, a lustful smile encroaching his face. Before I could even reply he was bonked on the head with a bow by a female barbarian.
"Enough, Bleit. Not only is she my capture, but we have to bring her back in one piece this time. You're always too rough with slaves." The male barbarian scoffed and went back over to the others. "Not that you can understand me, but had I let him continue, you'd wish you were dead." The female barbarian said as she walked back towards the crowd. She doesn't seem to know I can understand them, so I'll keep that to myself.
While I'm fortunate to have been kept alive after my terrible display of self defense, I kept racking my brain trying to figure out the reason why. Did I make some sort of entrance when Iris dropped me in? All I could recall when I woke up was the conversation I had had with her, not how I got here. The female hunter who spoke to me a few moments ago raised her voice among the crowd.
"Hear me, hunters! Time to move, pack up and get on the road." The female barbarian from earlier shouted.
"Already, Dhae? I haven't even got to properly rest yet." Bleit responded.
"We can't sit in one place for too long, you of all people know that." Dhae said, annoyed. "We'll be back at camp soon enough. Stop complaining. I know you're still upset I got put in charge of this hunt, but you can take that up with the elders." Bleit begrudgingly started to help pack up the makeshift camp that had been set up while another barbarian walked over to myself and put me to sleep with another spell. Great, sleep again.
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The feeling of being tossed onto the ground is what next awoke me. We had arrived at the barbarians main camp. The scent of smoke and sweat infiltrated my nostrils as I regained myself. The camp itself was surrounded by a tall wall made of logs, ending in a large spike on top. Inside the camp I saw an array of tents made from animal hide, some larger than others. A fire at the center crackled violently, its orange glow casting shadows on the rough faces of the warriors sitting around it, their broad frames outlined against the night.
The men and women of the camp are an intimidating sight: tall, wild-eyed, and scarred, their bodies adorned with fur and bone, tattoos twisting across their skin in intricate patterns. Weapons of all kinds are strapped to their sides. Axes, swords, spears, bows, and shields bearing the marks of countless battles. Some are sharpening their blades, others are laughing loudly, their voices rising over the crackle of the flames.
A large man noticed the patrol that brought me here, and walked our way. His face is hardened and weathered, his long, braided hair streaked with dirt and blood. His crimson eyes, cold and calculating, examined us like a beast sizing up its prey. He grinned, showing teeth that seem too sharp for a man. His voice, when he speaks, is low and gravelly, but filled with authority.
"This is all you've brought today? I could've sworn I asked you to wipe out the village of Fara this morning." He asked Dhae.
"I apologize, Andralk. We were about to attack the village, but there was a large magical disturbance nearby, we couldn't just ignore it." Dhae responded. "This woman was found at the source of it, so we've brought her back."
"And you didn't put a collar of restraint on her? You said yourself that she was at the source of a magical anomaly." Andralk questioned.
"Although she was, we didn't even sense a trace of mana from her, sir. She's probably a dud from some kind of experiment. They likely threw her away after they realized she was no good." Dhae replied.
The large man scoffed, and began to walk back towards the fire. "Put her with the others for now. Bring the boy. She won't be useful to us if she's injured."
Dhae brought me over to a larger tent and ushered me inside. Several other folk lined the tent, all of them wearing collars. I was forced to sit down and Dhae soon returned with a boy. He had short, dark maroon hair and horns atop his head.
"Heal her wounds, and then return to me." Dhae ordered him and left the tent. The boy crouched beside me without a word and held my arm in his hands. I winced at it being moved, but I was more curious about what he was doing without any medical supplies. Then, his hands began to glow a beautiful green hue. The pain I was feeling just moments ago was sated, and my wound closed up on its own. Holy shit, what was that? He quietly got up to return to Dhae outside the tent.
"Hey, uh, thanks." I told the boy. He quickly looked at me, almost confused.
"You- you can speak Demontongue..?" He asked me. Whoops. He seemed to push the thought aside. "Uhm, you're welcome, miss." He said and walked out of the tent.
I began to wonder if my slip up would get me in some kind of trouble, but that was the least of my problems right now. I wonder how I'm able to understand these languages. Is this a perk of being Iris' successor? While I was interested to see what the rest of the camp was like, there were guards posted at the door, barring my curiosity. I guess all there was left to do was wait for morning to come.
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I can't say I got great sleep last night, being on the floor and all, but I got some good intel from the other occupants of the tent. Firstly, the tribe that kidnapped me was known as the Karth. They were the largest group of barbarians in the forest, though they weren't the only ones. Second, I was going to take part in some kind of 'placement test' today by the Karth leadership. This test would determine how I would be of use to them, be it labor, craftsmanship or fighting. I found it interesting that they would even trust a captured individual to willingly fight alongside them, although they likely had measures to deal with any insubordination. Dhae came to grab me shortly after I awoke and pulled me out of the tent.
As we walked to wherever they were taking me I observed the layout of the camp. The many tents that substituted buildings were arranged in a loose circle. At the center of the camp lay a large communal firepit where folk seemed to gather day or night. Dotted around the camp were various trophies from great beasts the Karth have slain. There was an open area where groups of men and women alike were sharpening their combat abilities. The children of the tribe could be seen almost anywhere, some running around, others watching their elders spar, or even shadowing crafts like clothesmaking or weapon crafting. I even heard a ritual of some kind going on in one of the tents. Finally, we got to the front of the camp where I was brought in. Wait, wasn't I supposed to be tested or something, why would they bring me out here…? We waited for a few minutes without a word when a few people walked over to join us. One of them, a blonde girl, looked over at the two of us, and she aimed her bow at me.
"What's with the girl, Dhae? Can I play around with her?" She asked, smirking.
"Knock it off, Gunri. This one's off the table." Dhae said. "I was thinking we should have her hunt. Worst case scenario she goes down and we don't have to deal with this mess anymore. I'm already tired of what my father thought of this bitch yesterday. She can't even use mana anyway, what use would she be without that?" The girl lowered her bow and walked closer to me, eyeing me up and down.
"What a waste. A beauty like this one should just stay in camp for the reward of our hunters." She said, her hand grabbing my chin. These folk are very handsy.
"Whatever. If she dies, it's one less problem for me to deal with" Dhae said. "We could always use more fighting bodies, especially those who can't say no." The man who I awoke to on our first night, Bleit, joined the conversation.
"Let's just get this over with. I haven't had a proper hunt for over a week, it's really bumming me out." He said, locking onto me. "Be sure to keep up, miss beast."
"Back off, fool. How many times must I remind you she belongs to me?" Dhae said, putting a knife to Bleit's neck. He scoffed and walked away, readying the mounts we were to use. Iris, did you really drop me down here just to be an object for these folk? This is getting exhausting. Dhae clapped her hands together.
"Let's get going, where is Zal'gus? We're heading out." She asked. The demon boy who healed me last night finally showed up to join us. He seemed to be the only individual the Karth had who was capable of healing injuries. With him, our group totaled five members, myself included. We were given four mounts to use. They looked like a cross between a velociraptor and a bird of some kind. They were large enough for two to ride on, but I wasn't given my own.
"You can ride with Zal'gus, slave." Dhae said, "I'd give you your own but I can't trust that you won't just run off with it." The demon boy nodded when he heard her and motioned me to hop on. Dhae whistled a tone and the lizards started moving.