The Sacred Beast

We made a brief stop to Heidrun’s temple as we began the investigation. The style reminded me of the Greek ruins from my world, and around the temple were these massive gardens spreading out for hectares on end. Surrounding the garden were colossal walls to both contain and protect the goat, and at the front, the lone wooden gate leading out to the world.

The temple was the first place we investigated, but we did not stay there for long. We basically just stopped to inspect the early tracks and then followed them towards the north.

“Over there!” said Sybille, pointing to the mountains. “The goat went over there!”

“How do you know?” I asked her.

“Do you see how the trees and rocks over there are all smashed up? She must have headbutted everything on her way!”

That was checking out.

“Worth investigating,” I said. “Although, is there anything up there?”

Last time I went climbing a mountain, it was to go into a dungeon.

“Hmm… the mana is not too unstable. I doubt there is a dungeon, but there may be monsters.”

“I hope they are not too troublesome.”

We followed the trail of wreckage all the way to the mountains. Once there we climbed up, this time finding hoofprints, and followed those. It was not as a difficult climb as it was for the one by Whiteriver, but the goat’s hectic path did not make for an easy trail. It took us hours searching after her, until we heard screaming.

“What was that?” I said.

“Orcs!” added Sybille.

Dozens of green-skinned people came running towards us with spears. They had large bodies, some taller than me, and had large tusks coming out from their mouths.

“Monsters,” I said. “I’ll handle them.”

“What?” said Sybille. “Wait, no! Orcs aren’t monsters! They’re nomads!”

“Oh.”

My bad. That was a mean thing to say.

The orcs just ran straight past us, carrying all that they could on their backs. Just one of them stopped to look at us and shouted with panic.

“Run!” said the orc, pointing towards the end of the trail. “It’s the Sacred Beast!”

“Heidrun?” said Sybille.

The echo of bleating cries struck the heavens from the other side.

Oh no.

Sybille and I walked through the swath of fleeing orcs and found a clearance where they had been camping. They had a big fireplace, tents, and stashes of supplies. If Sybille hadn’t told me they were nomads, I could have easily mistaken this place for a village. Alas, this place was there a wreck. Not a single structure had been left standing.

The responsible one was evident.

She turned out to be a giant monstrosity dwarfing me in size. She had golden hair, pitch-black horns, and eyes glowing green as though they were emeralds. And this goat? She was busy sitting on the fireplace and chewing down the tarp from an orc’s tent.

“It really is her…” said Sybille. “The Sacred Beast!”

“How do we even catch her?”

“I don’t know… maybe some rope?”

I rummaged around the wrecked campsite, searching for something big and strong to reign her in. The Great Heidrun did not seem too preoccupied by my presence. She just kept eating that tarp without a care in the world and feeling the warmth of the fire on her belly.

“This will do,” I said, finding a good rope around. “Get ready!”

“Got it!” said Sybille, holding her staff tight.

I warily approached the giant goat, made a large knot, and cast it towards her head. The rope slid smoothly in, but well…

She took it personally.

“BAAAAAH!”

The Great Heidrun bleated, leaping into her hooves, and glaring at me. I tried reigning her in as well as I could, holding the rope with both my hands, but with the massive weight that she was thrashing around I could barely stay on my feet.

“Keep her steady!” said Sybille. “I will cast a calm spell! Oh, by the charms of the heart, tranquility of the lakes…”

As Sybille was preparing her spell, the Sacred Goat pulled the rope away from my hands.

“Guh!” I groaned.

The Sacred Goat dug the ground with her rear hoof, and arched down her spine as she glared at me.

“Bastion!” shouted Sybille.

“Here she comes!”

The Heidrun Goat charged directly towards me. I braced myself and took the force head on. Quite literally, I rammed my head against the angry goat’s.

“BAAGH!” she bleated.

As she pulled away from the pain, I seized her horns, and slammed her down low.

“Shoot the spell!” I shouted.

“Firing!” replied Sybille.

Sybille fired out a ray of blue light towards the goat. Before it could land, however, the goat slammed its head into me, and sent me flying to the air. In that same lunge, she moved away from the ray’s path, and emerged untouched by Sybille’s magic.

“Bastion!” Sybille shouted.

I crashed down on a tent, destroying what little had been left of it.

“I’m fine!” I said.

The Sacred Goat, however, was now free. She leapt towards Sybille. She had time to narrowly fly away from the Beast’s attack. Then, the goat fled, jumping down the mountain trail from where we had come.

“After it!” said Sybille, flying in chase of the goat.

I followed suit, boosting my speed with the runes in my soles.

Still, poor orcs.

We did not get to chase the goat very far, with both our mana supplies running low just as we found the gathering of orcs again.

“She escaped…” said Sybille, landing on her feet.

“Who knows where she is going now,” I added.

The orcs surrounded us warily. One of them was bold enough to approach us more confidently.

“You drove her away,” said the orc.

“Oh?” I said. “Yeah. We did. Though, that was not our intention.”

“Nonetheless, you saved our camp from the Brightest Fur,” said the orc. “We thank you for it, stone-friend.”

Sybille turned towards the orc.

“You know about Heidrun?” she said.

“She is a beast of legend,” said the orc. “You are with the humans down in that town, right? You want to catch her.”

“Mhm. Yes.”

“Then, you will need the honey. You will never catch her without it.”

Sybille banged her head with her fist.

“Why didn’t I think of that!” she said. “Urgh…”

“Where can we find some honey?” I asked.

“There is a giant beehive some steps west,” the orc pointed over. “Just be careful. They may be ill with manashift.”

Another word for mana corruption, I supposed.

“One thing after another,” said Sybille. “But even if we find it, just where could she have gone now…”

“The Brightest Fur must have gone in search of more honey,” said the orc. “Maybe where she usually gets it.”

“The Temple!" she said. “Very well. Let’s get that honey, and then that goat!”