466. Wilderness, 7

(Rose)

Another pack of wild dogs came after us.

My trousers were new and thick, so I wasn’t that afraid, even if I can only handle a knife.

Though what surprised me then was seeing Blume unsheathing the sword of Licht.

Seeing her holding my sword was a little unsettling to me.

The first dogs were about to jump at us in a few seconds, barking and drooling.

I’m fairly confident Blume will be able to handle herself given how athletic she’s proven to be, but I wonder still.

R - Show me how you can dance with the devil then.

B - I’ll improvise honestly.

Turns out she’s a better swordswoman than I am.

Well maybe it’s just her body that is able of physical prowess humans can hardly reach normally.

Her foot just seem to hit the ground heavily, loudly, and I see then a line of splashed blood flying on her side, like a cracking whip.

The dog that was unlucky enough to jump a second before is now in two halves emptying themselves messily on the ground. It’s flabbergasting.

It’s worse.

Blume defending herself with a sword is terrifying.

The dogs almost seem to just collapse in a queer splashing sound around her. Dead things accumulate around her in a circle. I can’t even see. I’m now reasonably good with any weapon, but this is something else.

I struggle to kill the only dog that came after me and it’s messy. Blume comes out practically clean facing an entire pack. The last cowardly dogs act smarter and survive. I’m in awe looking at Blume, gawking.

And here I thought maybe I could spar with her when I would have my arm back. Now I think it’s a little pointless facing her...

Blume wonders if she should do a sadistic joke to me as she still holds the sword and stands in the middle of puddles of blood and flesh.

She doesn’t say anything.

She begins cleaning the blade while stepping out.

She’s... kind. So many bad jokes or unsettling laughs she could just have made at my expense. She probably saw in my attitude that she shocked me with her prowess.

~

We spend the rest of the day harvesting and cleaning the dog meat.

Because she cut through their digestive systems along, everything is tainted. We can’t wash it all and most is lost. Only the one I killed ironically is easier to cut and recover the meat from.

Next time, she’ll just pierce the heads in a swift move surely. Now she knows.

Still, I didn’t expect a demon to be so terrifyingly able with a human sword.

~

A few days later, and more dogs encountered but not fought, they avoided us, we reached a nice landscape.

We were technically on a high plateau all this time. We never realised it.

Now we discovered a valley below us, with a river slithering between the slopes of the hills ahead and the plateau on our side.

But more importantly...

R - Finally, forests! It’s been too long without any trees around.

The valley had some fields and crops, and the occasional lonely tree, but mostly it was patches of woods and forests stretching along.

There was a small town in the distance, with agricultural fields and crops on kinds of giant stairways.

There seemed to be a voluminous resort like a hotel with many facilities, a little outside of town. A tourist resort maybe. A perfect area to meet our friends possibly.

R - Anything unsettling you can detect?

B - It all seems empty of beings-like-me. It smells like all sorts of mammals frolic in the area.... But I don’t think there’s any human among them.

R - Should be all good then. Let’s go and see!

I’m happy at the prospect of seeing our friends soon, and happy to see and smell trees again. The shades of the woods soothe me. They remind me of my childhood home.

Some of the mammals she spoke of are dogs. Probably mostly dogs. But they seem to avoid us now.

We make our way through the woods, climbing down the way toward that valley.

~

R - I think we’re still on the territory of that pack. Only they’ve reconsidered their approach.

B - What would you like to do?

R - I don’t know yet. Let’s see what we can find first, and what we possibly meet.

We enter the abandoned gardens of the complex. While Blume names the flowers and exotic plants, I follow carefully the movements I see behind the bushes around us. They’re watching over us.

We reach the main entrance. It smells like fish? It’s odd.

R - What’s that smell?

B - ... I don’t think you want to know.

R - ?

B - Let’s find another place, alright? The village could have a nice place too.

R - What’s inside?

B - Rose, you don’t want to know. Believe me...

R - Hm... Okay, I trust you. Let’s go then...

I’m feeling frustrated, not knowing.

But I believe her. What lied inside that place she knew would be too disgusting for me to face sanely.

~

By the abandoned little town a while further, we have a little more luck, as Blume hoped for.

Some nice buildings still standing. A stream. Large fields with cultures.

And a different smell inside the hotel close to the small train station.

A smell I recognise as being one of a dog, or a cow. It’s a little in-between.

Blume unsheathes the sword without a glance in my direction. I grab my trusty knife.

The giant dog that comes out of the shadows is trembling on its legs. Its eyes are white and pale from cataract. Its teeth are dark from rot and it’s drooling litters of saliva that drips where it stumbles slowly.

It is growling at us, but mostly it looks old and sickly. It lost most of its fur and it looks like parts of it have begun to decompose already.

Blume and I step aside of its way. It limps its way out, still snarling, but not attacking. It’s probably scared as well...

A minute later, this dog the size of a cow we see limping its way on the forest path we were on just before. It slowly goes away.

I’m a little relieved it didn’t end a bloodbath this time. My inner ogre is asleep I guess.

Blume puts the sword back and steps inside the building.

This was the dying ground for that one probably, or a temporary shelter. Not a nest. The place is still alright overall.

The rooms even have unbroken windows.

Blume shivers.

I notice it. Like a thrill that ran along her spine for a second.

She looks in the distance and sky.

I guess something big is coming toward us.

~